


Agent Hanamura

by vivvav



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Amputation, Gen, The AFR Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 05:39:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13334616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivvav/pseuds/vivvav
Summary: After graduating college, Yosuke decides to join the Shadow Operatives.





	1. Last Call in Inaba

It had been a long time since the entire Investigation Team had been in one place. Between college and professional aspirations, all of them had been busy. While at least one or two of them were in Inaba at all times, there just wasn’t a lot of time to hang out. Rise’s career was bigger than ever, Kanji was helping his mom at the textile shop full-time, Yukiko had officially taken over management of the inn, and Chie was already working under Dojima at the Inaba Police Department. Even Teddie was no longer available to pester everyone all the time. Ever since somebody from Junes’ corporate HQ learned about his status as the Inaba branch’s mascot, the members of the Junes marketing department liked the idea so much that Teddie was busy touring the nation, shooting commercials and training people in bear costumes how to act exactly like him, much to the delight of children and consternation of women all over Japan.

But tonight wasn’t for complaining about life getting in the way of hang-out time. Tonight was a celebration. Yu, Yosuke, and Naoto had all finished college. Everyone had managed to set aside enough time to get together for a single night in the Dojima household and have a party. For the first time in a year, everyone was present, including Nanako and Marie. Even Dojima himself was there, having taken the night off to welcome his nephew back to town and finally have a drink together as men.

And oh, was there ever drinking. Within an hour, half of the room was already three sheets to the wind.

“GATHER ‘ROUND AS I SHARE MY PATHOS!” A red-faced, teetering Marie stood on the living room table, all the eyes in the room honing in on her. Marie cleared her throat and threw her hand out dramatically towards the larger kitchen table, where the recent graduates, as well as Rise, were currently sitting. “This is a special composition for you newly-learned people who have ceased to be children and become adults! It is titled… ‘Sapling’.”

“Oh boy…” Yu put his face in his hand, one eye trained on the inebriated goddess, unobscured by his fingers. Despite the many times he had read Marie’s poems, he never really understood them. “This oughta be good.”

“Sapling…” Marie began. “Born in the timberlands, surrounded by mighty oaks… Always knowing one day you would be like them… Now that you have endured the harsh winter, what will you be?” Marie reached her hand towards the ceiling. “Will you bear fruit, and provide for the lost traveler?” Marie hugged her chest. “Will your branches and leaves serve as a home for little birds, knowing only the safety you provide before they learn to fly?” Marie leaned backwards dramatically, the back of her hand touching against her forehead and shutting her eyes. “Or will you face the worst adversity of all, when the axeman comes for your wood? Will you be ready when it is time to you to fall, fall…” Marie took a step backwards, dropping off the table. “Fall…”

Kanji caught Marie right before she hit the ground. From the other side of the table, a very flushed Chie and Yukiko started snapping their fingers, though the motions were slow and out of synch. With her free hand, Chie cracked open another can of beer.

“Hey, Satonaka!” Dojima glared at Chie from the sofa, currently nursing a beer of his own. “Go easy on the booze! You got a shift in the AM!”

“You’re one to talk, bossman!” Chie turned back to Dojima and giggled. “Have you seen how pink your cheeks are? You sure an old-timer like you’s gonna be ready to walk into the station when the sun’s back?”

“Keep runnin’ your mouth, rookie!” Dojima grinned at the short beat cop. “I got me a guaranteed hangover cure!”

“Oh yeah?” Chie slowly rose to her feet and staggered over to couch, looming over Dojima. “You wanna share with the class, old man?”

“I dunno if you could handle it. You gotta down a raw egg.”

“Pffft.” Chie waved her hand in Dojima’s face dismissively, very nearly smacking her superior officer. “That’s nothing! I eat raw eggs for breakfast!”

“Tough talk for a beat cop.” Dojima smirked at Chie and finished off his beer.

“Is that a challenge!? Nanako-Chan!” Chie turned back to the 13-year-old girl who was presently trying to poke a sleeping Teddie back into consciousness. “Bring me all the eggs you’ve got! I have a point to prove!”

“Um…” Nanako poked Teddie one last time before giving up. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“What’re you talkin’ about!? This is gonna be great!”

“Just ignore her, Nanako” Yu said. “You need those eggs more for breakfast tomorrow than she does to make another bad decision.”

“‘Kay!” Nanako watched warily as Chie and Dojima started arguing over who could handle their booze better, Yukiko egging them on the whole time.

“Awww…” Rise grinned at Yu. “You’re so considerate, Senpai! Looking out for your ‘little sis’ like that!”

“It’s not just for her sake” Yu said. “The last thing any of us need is for Chie to start puking raw eggs all over the place.”

“You can’t fool me! You care about Nanako-Chan!” Rise leaned in and started whispering. “Sometimes, I think you’re an even better father to her than Dojima-San is! You should just adopt her already!”

“I don’t think so.” Yu leaned back to escape the smell of alcohol on Rise’s breath.

“I’m not so sure how beneficial it would be for Nanako-Chan” Naoto said. “With how busy Yu’s about to be with detective work, it would be a lateral move at best.”

“You mean how busy the both of you are.” Yosuke grinned at Naoto. “You’ve got some nerve, stealing my partner away from me like that.”

“If you wanted me for yourself, you should’ve put in more of an effort” Yu said. “I have high standards. You could’ve used some of that Junes prince money to buy me some pearls or something.”

“Har-dee-har.” Yosuke reached over the table and punched Yu on the arm. “Even if I did like you like that, I still don’t think I could’ve competed with Naoto.”

“Totally!” Rise crossed her arms. “Finishing college a whole year early just to graduate at the same time as Senpai and start playing house together! I wish I’d thought of that, Naoto-Kun!”

“I didn’t do it to ‘play house’, Rise-Chan.” Naoto rolled her eyes. “Yu and I are starting a detective agency together. I couldn’t ask him to wait a whole year for me to finish my education. It simply wouldn’t be fair.”

“Like that had anything to do with it!” Yosuke smirked. “I read the news, y’know! You didn’t take a break from solving cases while you were still in college!”

“For real, Naoto-Kun, that’s impressive!” Rise looked at Naoto in awe. “My schedule’s not light or anything, but I could never solve cases while doing two years worth of school in one year! How did you manage it all?”

“Cigarettes” Naoto said. “A copious amount of cigarettes.”

“Wow, you really go whole-hog on that ‘hardboiled detective’ thing, huh?” Yosuke asked.

“It’s not ‘going whole-hog’ if it’s just what she is” Yu said.

“Speaking of which…” Naoto rose from her chair, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a book of matches out of her pocket. “It’s getting a tad stuffy in here. I think I’ll get some air.”

“You don’t get to say that if you’re polluting the air!” Yosuke called out as Naoto walked away. His comment went ignored.

“Hey…” Rise started grinning and pointed to the living room area. “Take a look at that.”

Kanji was sitting rigidly, a passed-out Marie sleeping with her head lying on his lap. He looked at her awkwardly, not moving a muscle, seemingly not wanting to disturb her. Rise got out of her chair and walked around the table, stopping behind Yu.

“I’m gonna go get Moronji in trouble with a goddess. If you need me…” Rise leaned over and whispered into Yu’s ear sensually. “You know where to find me, Senpai.”

Yu rolled his eyes and grunted as Rise sauntered away. Yosuke crossed his arms.

“Man, what are you griping about? You know how many guys would kill to have Risette flirt with them like that?”

“If you want her so bad, you can have her.” Yu shook his head. “It was cute when we first met and she was still trying to build up her self-esteem, but she’s been at it for over five years now and I’ve been in a serious relationship with Naoto pretty much that entire time.”

“Then you should just tell her you don’t like it.”

“I have. Explicitly. Many times.” Yu sighed. “I’m really glad that Naoto and I are gonna be working together now. Maybe when I give Rise a business card with ‘Shirogane and Narukami’ written on it, it’ll finally drive the point home.”

“So you two are really going for it, huh? Your own detective agency?”

“Of course.” Yu’s mood lifted considerably. “Detective work is Naoto’s passion. And somewhere along the way, it became my passion too. Especially when I’m doing it alongside her.”

“You mean our old investigation?”

“Well, that a little…” Yu chuckled and took a swig of beer. “But I first really started thinking about it back when I helped her deal with the ‘phantom thief’ that turned out to be her grandfather. There was something really satisfying about having actual clues to follow and figuring out the hidden meanings within the messages we got. It was real detective work.”

“You’re saying we weren’t doing real detective work?”

“I mean, we were, but we weren’t exactly the best at it.” Yu went to take another sip of beer, but discovered the can was empty. He crushed it flat against the table. “Most detectives don’t fight monsters and save people from their inner-demons. Even when we confronted Adachi-San in the hospital, I didn’t really know what I was doing.” Yu looked out the window, where he could see Naoto taking a drag of a cigarette. He smiled at her wistfully. “But the way Naoto pointed out how he reacted to Morooka’s absence in Namatame’s journal, that was incredible. Not even my uncle could throw him off his game, but Naoto had him running scared.”

“Yeah, that sure was something.” Yosuke watched as a plume of smoke shot out of Naoto’s mouth. “You’re gonna have to bring your A game if you wanna keep up with her.”

“Yeah, but I’m ready for it." Yu looked back at Yosuke with a fire in his eyes. “I want to uncover the truth. Any truth I can. EVERY truth I can. And together, that’s exactly what Naoto and I are going to do.”

“That’s amazing, partner. Or… Uh… Hm…” Yosuke frowned. “I guess I can’t really call you ‘partner’ anymore, can I?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, that’s what you and Naoto have now, right?”

“Don’t be an idiot, Yosuke.” Yu reached over to the edge of the table and grabbed another beer. “You and me may not be partners in as many ways as me and Naoto, but we’ll always be partners anyway.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Yosuke held his beer up in the air. “Here’s to your awesome future!”

“To OUR awesome futures.” Yu popped the tab on his can and the two banged their cans together. Yu took a couple gulps from his beer, but when he put it down, Yosuke was still going on his. Yosuke continued for a few more seconds, grabbing his head as he put down his drink.

“Oh man…” Yosuke took a few slow, deep breaths through his nose. “Think I did too much too quick there.”

“You ok?”

“Yeah… Yeah…” Yosuke looked down at the table and took one more deep breath. “I’m good.”

“Alright.” Yu looked away from the table to the rest of the party. Marie was still dead asleep in Kanji’s lap. Kanji himself seemed less flustered by this than he was Rise leaning against his shoulder, teasing him flirtatiously. Teddie was awake now, and pestering Nanako to compose a theme song for him on her piano, ignoring her protests that she’d never written music before. Dojima and Yukiko were locked in a staring contest, apparently to decide whether tough manly stoicism or calm traditional Japanese beauty was more unwavering. Chie acted as the judge, staring at the two of them far more intensely than they were staring at each other.

“Hey… uh…”

Yu was pulled out of observing the scene by Yosuke’s voice. He turned back to his best friend, who looked like he was having a hard time getting something off his chest.

“Can we go talk somewhere private for a minute? I got something I could use your help with.”

Yu nodded and the two left the house. Naoto was finishing off her cigarette and saw the two off with a nod as they headed towards the Central Shopping District. They walked in silence for a few minutes, eventually winding up at the shrine. Finally, Yosuke spoke up.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, dude.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, like, professionally. I don’t know what I wanna do with my life.”

“Hey, that’s fine. You only just finished college.” Yu put his hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. “You’re still young, you’ve got time to figure it out.”

“Easy for you to say. You and your girlfriend are starting a freaking detective agency.” Yosuke brushed Yu’s hand off. “And it’s not just you two either. Rise’s been an idol for years, Kanji and Yukiko are taking over their family businesses, Chie’s a cop, even Teddie is becoming this national star. I feel like I’m getting left behind.”

“What are you talking about?” Yu leaned against a tree. “You’ve got a gig lined up with Junes Corporate, don’t you?”

“Come on, Yu. You should know me better than that.” Yosuke kicked the dirt. “When I went off to college, finally getting away from Junes was one of the biggest things I was looking forward to. I was gonna expand my horizons and find my passion! Instead I fell into business school and wound up going back to Junes because it’s the only thing I could get.”

“There’s nothing wrong with taking what you can get.” Yu yawned and stretched out his arms. “Nobody ever said being an adult would be easy.”

“Dude, don’t give me that BS.”

“It’s not BS.” Yu shook his head. “I get that it feels like everyone around you is following their dreams, and you’re just settling for whatever, but you’re not looking at the big picture. Kanji, Yukiko, and Naoto were all born into their careers. They could’ve chosen to do something else, and those first two almost did, but they had to decide that following in their parents’ footsteps is what they wanted to do. Rise also struggled with whether she wanted to continue being an idol, and it took Chie some time to figure out that she wanted to be a cop.”

“Yeah but they all made those decisions when they were still in high school. I'm out in the real world now and just going through the motions.”

“Alright, so you’re not happy with your career prospects.” Yu leaned forward a bit. “So, since you don’t want to work for Junes, what DO you want to do?”

“Do you think I’d be bitching about all this if I knew that!?”

“So we’ll take a step back. What kind of stuff do you like?”

“I mean…” Yosuke’s scratched his head. “I dunno. Girls, music, stuff like that.”

“You could go into the music industry.”

“I’m not a good enough guitar player for that.”

“Not as a musician. You just finished business school. You could become a producer or something. Manage idols and stuff.” Yu looked up at the starry sky. “I bet Rise could introduce you to some people.”

“I dunno if I’m cut out for that.” Yosuke groaned. “It sounds cool, but I don’t know what makes a musician popular or anything like that. Plus if I did get to work with a ton of cute idols I don’t know if I’d be able to focus on my actual job.”

“That’s true.” Yu gave Yosuke a look of pity. “You’re nowhere near as bad as Teddie, but with your luck, there’d be some kind of big misunderstanding followed by a sexual harassment suit.”

“Gee, thanks.” Yosuke slumped over, trying not to let that particular nightmare play out in his head. “Man, this sucks. I feel like the last time I knew what I was doing was when we were the Investigation Team.”

“You were pretty good at that, yeah. Before Naoto joined us, you were the most focused and rational of us when it came to finding the killer.” A smile appeared on Yu’s face. “You know, I bet Naoto wouldn’t say no if you wanted to join us at our agency.”

“Nah, I don’t wanna be a third wheel.” Yosuke put his hands in his pockets. “Besides, isn’t most detective work like, stalking cheating wives and runaway kids and stuff?”

“Some of it, but there’s also finding stolen property and tailing potential criminals and even solving murders. We’re going to be working with the police a lot.” Yu laughed nervously. “Or, well, Naoto will, and she’s gonna drag me along and say I’m essential to her work until the police accept me as her equal.”

“Yeah, but even that’s like… I dunno.”

“What, not good enough for you? Do you need to save the Prime Minister or something?”

“Nah, it’s not that. It’s like…” Yosuke pinched his forehead. “It all seems so small compared to what we used to do. We saved the world. Twice. I don’t wanna feel like I peaked when I was still in high school.”

“If you say so.” Yu yawned again. “Me, I could take or leave the Shadows.”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t mind using my Persona again. But it’s not like there’s a job where I can…” Yosuke trailed off, staring at the ground with great focus.

“Uh… Yosuke?” Yu waved his hand in front of his friend’s face. “Earth to Yosuke.”

“I’VE GOT IT!” Yosuke looked up at Yu with a big grin on his face.

“What?”

“I’m gonna join the Shadow Operatives!”

“WHAT!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna write some more fluffy stuff after finishing "The Shadows Linger". I really was. I have like 5 different stories I've started, including some Kanji-focused stuff, some Ren/Makoto stuff, a Haru fic, even something cute starring Koromaru.
> 
> This wound up being the story I really wanted to tell right now. So here we go. My first fic without any of the Persona 5 cast in it. I mean, someone might make a cameo/there may be some allusions to P5, but I'm not planning on it at the moment. Let's see how I do.


	2. Corporate Espionage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke tries to have a meeting with Mitsuru Kirijo.

“Let me make sure I heard that right.” Yu scraped the inside of his ear with his finger. No wax came out. “You want to join the Shadow Operatives?”

“It’s perfect! I’d be doing important work helping people, I’d get to fight Shadows and use my Persona again, and I’d be working for Mitsuru Kirijo, who’s totally loaded, so I bet it pays really well too!”

“Slow down and think about this for a second.” Yu held his hand up. “The Shadow Operatives are an unofficial government organization dedicated to fighting monsters. You’d be operating under very strict standards and putting your life on the line constantly. After both times we’ve dealt with that, do you really want to do it even more!?”

“Uh… yeah. Why not?” Yosuke’s brow furrowed. “Are you saying I can’t handle it?”

“No, but it IS really dangerous work.”

“Says the guy whose new job has him getting a license to carry a gun.”

“That’s not the same. It’s-“ Yu sighed. “Look, maybe you should wait to make this decision until you’re sober.”

“Are you saying I’m drunk!?”

“No, but you have been drinking. And Yosuke who's been drinking thinks just a little differently from Yosuke when he’s sober.”

“Dude, you’re my best friend! You’re supposed to support me!”

“And I do! But I also think maybe you shouldn’t make decisions at a shrine at midnight when you’ve let go of your inhibitions!”

“That’s… That’s…” Yosuke sneered as he looked at Yu. He’d been keeping count. They’d had the same amount to drink, but Yu seemed to be carrying himself better than Yosuke was. Yosuke wasn’t drunk, but he was definitely more buzzed, and Yu probably had a point. “Fine. But we're talking about this first thing in the morning.”

By the time the two got back to Dojima’s house, everybody else was passed out except for Naoto, Nanako, and Kanji. Nanako made sure to position her father so he wouldn’t fall off the couch in his sleep and threw a blanket over him. Yosuke took Teddie back to his house. Kanji hefted Rise over his shoulder and said he’d be sure to drop her off at the tofu shop, since it was on the way home for him anyway. After helping Nanako clean up, Yu and Naoto piled Chie, Yukiko, and Marie into Naoto’s car. Getting Chie and Yukiko home was easy, but Marie presented a bit of a conundrum, as neither Yu nor Naoto knew where exactly a local goddess actually lived, if she could be truly said to live anywhere. Given how Marie’s state of mind could affect things like the town’s weather, they also began to worry if having a black-out drunk goddess would bring calamity to Inaba. But seeing as how neither the sky nor ground had split open yet, they just decided to put her up in a spare room in the Shirogane Manor and hope for the best before retiring to bed themselves.

Yosuke and Yu met at Junes the next day. Both of them had a cup of coffee on hand already, but Yosuke’s was much larger and he was the only one in obvious need of it.

“Dude, how are you so ok?” Yosuke asked. “We both went pretty hard at it last night.”

“Bacon sandwich” Yu said. “Guaranteed hangover cure.”

“What, really?”

“Yeah. It’s science.” Yu rubbed his eyes. “I don’t remember all the details, but it’s the mix of carbs and protein and… I wanna say amino acids? I don’t know, Naoto told me about it. She could explain it better than I can.”

“Naoto doesn’t seem like the type to need a hangover cure.”

“You’d be surprised.” Yu smirked and shook his head. “Half her image of what a detective is comes from old movies. Naoto’s trained herself to have a really high alcohol tolerance in case she ever needs to drink somebody under the table to get a piece of information.”

“Yeah, but that’s the kinda thing that ONLY happens in movies, isn’t it?” Yosuke gawked at Yu.

“Pretty sure, yeah.” Yu sipped his coffee. “But hey, if it means I know how to get over a hangover quickly in the mornings, I’m not complaining.”

“Alright. So…” Yosuke twiddled his thumbs. “Given how well you’re holding up, I’m guessing you remember what we talked about last night.”

“Yeah.” Yu titled his head to the side a bit. “Do you not?”

“No, I do! And…” Yosuke took a large gulp of coffee. “I did some serious thinking, and I still wanna go for it.”

“Ok.”

“That’s it!?” Yosuke stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “After all that crap you gave me last night, all you have to say now is ‘ok’!?”

“Last night you were a little drunk.” Yu gave Yosuke a bored look. “Today you’re not. Your brain’s working normally, and you’re not an idiot. If you think this is right for you, I’m not gonna stand in your way.”

“Oh. Well, ok then.” Yosuke sat back down. “Cool.”

* * *

“…but I really think Teddie Ice Cream would be the way to go!”

“Uh-huh.”

“After all, who could resist such a cute treat? Everyone could have a bit of Teddie in them, and who doesn’t want that!?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Ooh! Ooh! What if we made Teddie Topsicles!? The ultimate fur-ozen treat!”

“Uh-huh.” Yosuke was filtering out Teddie’s prattle as he clicked around the Kirijo Group’s website for contact information. He obviously wasn’t expecting to find Mitsuru’s personal e-mail or anything, but if he could at least find the phone number to the main corporate office, he could probably get through to her through a receptionist or something.

“Yosuke, you’re not even listening to me! You’re un-bear-lievable!” Teddie grabbed Yosuke’s shoulders and looked at his computer screen. “What are you doing on there anyway!? Are you looking at nurses again?”

“Will you drop the nurses thing already!?” Yosuke pushed Teddie’s face backwards, sending the bear rolling across the room. “I’m trying to figure out a way to contact Mitsuru-San!”

“You’re looking for Mitchan’s phone number? What for?” Teddie stood up and gasped. “Are you going to try and SCORE with her!? That’s way above your level, Yosuke!”

“No, you idiot! I’m not hitting on her!” Yosuke spun around in his chair. “I’m going to ask her to let me join the Shadow Operatives!”

“WHAAAAAAAAT!?” Teddie’s massive pupils dilated in that way they did whenever he was surprised. “Yosuke, you’re going to become a secret agent!?”

“That’s the plan, yup.”

“B-b-but… wouldn’t you have to leave Junes for that!?”

“You bet!” Yosuke smiled. “Hell, leaving Junes is half the reason I’m doing this! I never WANTED to work there, it’s just the only thing that was available to me. But not anymore!”

“But if you leave Junes, doesn’t that mean you’ll also be leaving me!?” Teddie stomped his foot. “How could you so cruelly abandon your Teddie after all the fun times we’ve shared!?”

“I’ve been babysitting you for five years. You’re the ‘superstar of Junes’ now. I’m sure the company will have plenty of people to look after you.”

“Yeah, but…” Teddie started sulking. “It won’t be the same. The people at Junes are nice, but I don’t have the same kind of bond with them! We’re practically bear-others!”

“You dealt with it just fine while I was away at college, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but that’s because I thought you were coming back afterwards!”

“Look at it this way, Ted.” Yosuke waved his hand over the entire room. “Once I take that job, I’m probably not gonna live in Inaba anymore. Which means you get the whole room to yourself.”

“Really!? But that means…” A big smile appeared on Teddie’s face. “I can bring all the honeys up here I want! I can finally turn this place into the ultimate bear-achelor pad!”

“Great.” Yosuke turned back to his computer. “So can you keep it down while I look for the phone number?”

“I don’t get it.” Teddie sat on Yosuke’s bed. “You talk to Labby-Chan all the time, and she’s a Shadow Operative. Why don’t you just call her?”

“I don’t know how.” Yosuke focused on the screen as he finally found the Kirijo Group’s corporate headquarters in Iwatodai. “Labrys calls me, but she’s never given me her phone number. Come to think of it, I don’t even know if she really has a phone.”

“How could she call you with no phone?”

“I don’t know for sure, but maybe she has a phone built into her head or something. She is a robot after all.” Yosuke pulled out his phone and started dialing the phone number listed on his computer screen. “Either way, I just talked to her the other day, so she’s probably not gonna call again for a while. And I gotta get the ball rolling on this now.”

Yosuke hit the call button. He connected very quickly, and to his surprise, it wasn’t a machine on the other end.

“Thank you for calling the Kirijo Group” the operator said. “What department would you like to be connected to?”

“Hi there!” Yosuke tried to put on the friendliest voice he could. “Could you connect me to Mitsuru Kirijo’s office please?”

“Kirijo-San’s office? May I ask who’s calling?”

“My name is Yosuke Hanamura, and-“

“And I’m Teddie!” Yosuke jumped up in his seat a little. He didn’t even realize Teddie was looming over his shoulder again. “The superstar of Junes department stores all over the country!”

“Junes?” The operator was silent for a second. “Please hold while I connect you.”

“Huh.” Yosuke stared at the phone curiously. “That went well.”

“Of course it did!” Teddie puffed up his chest proudly. “You’ve got a big-time celebrity with you, after all!”

“Actually, I think they thought we represent the Junes company. We do carry a LOT of Kirijo products, after all.” Yosuke frowned. “I hope Mitsuru-San doesn’t get upset and think we lied to reach her.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine! Mitchan has a heart as big as her rockin’ curv-“

“Quiet!” Yosuke held up a finger to Teddie as the hold music turned off. “I’m getting through!”

“Mitsuru Kirijo’s office” a nasally woman’s voice said. “This is Ikumi speaking. What is the nature of your business?”

“Hi, my name is Yosuke Hanamura, and-“

“From Junes, right?” Ikumi sounded impatient. “Hanamura-San, are you new to your company?”

“Uh…no?” Yosuke gave Teddie a confused look. “I’ve been working for Junes for years, but-“

“Then you should already know that any business that distributors such as yourself have should be taken up with our sales department, not the head of the company. Would you like me to transfer you?”

“No! I mean-“ Yosuke took a deep breath. “Look, there’s been a big misunderstanding. Yes, I work for Junes, but I’m not calling as a representative of the company.”

“Then what is your business, Hanamura-San?”

“I’d like to speak with Mitsuru-San. I’m a friend of hers. Or, not friend, I guess. Associate.” Yosuke grunted. “The point is, she knows who I am. And if you tell her ‘Yosuke Hanamura from Inaba is calling’, she’ll probably take it.”

“Mmhm.” Ikumi was clearly unconvinced. “Am I to understand that this is a personal call, Hanamura-San?”

“No, this is business, I promise.”

“What kind of business?”

“Um…” Yosuke paused for a moment. Considering the highly-secretive nature of the Shadow Operatives, he doubted most people at the Kirijo Group knew about it. Maybe Mitsuru’s personal secretary did, but since he couldn’t be sure, he decided not to namedrop the group directly. “I guess you could say it’s me asking about a job opportunity.”

“The Kirijo Group has a process for accepting applicants to work for the company. You do not need to speak to the CEO for this.”

“No, it’s not just any job! If you put me through she’d know what I’m talking about!” Yosuke tightened his grip around the phone. He needed some kind of angle to let this woman know he was serious. Maybe she knew some of Mitsuru’s friends. He just had to think of a name. “Look, would it help if I said I knew Akihiko-San too?”

“Ah, Sanada-San?” Ikumi spoke knowingly. “I see what’s going on here…”

“You do?” Yosuke let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god. For a second I thought-“

“You’re another Gekkoukan student. You were ‘so close’ to Kirijo-San back in your high school days and she ‘promised’ to help you out if you ever fell on hard times.” Ikumi’s tone became stern. “I’ve heard it all before, and Kirijo-San has given me explicit instructions not to waste her time with moochers like you.”

“No! That’s not what this is! I didn’t even go to Gekkoukan High!" Yosuke had jumped out of his chair and was screaming into the phone. “Look, I don’t have to talk to her right now, ok!? Can I make an appointment!?”

“I’m hanging up now, Hanamura-San. Do not call again.”

“Just tell her! It’s Yosuke Hanamura from Inaba! She’ll know what it means!”

The call ended without another word. Feeling defeated, Yosuke fell back into his chair, letting his phone fall out of his hand and hit the floor.

“That didn’t sound like went well” Teddie said.

“Nope” Yosuke said.

“So what now?” Teddie leaned forward to get a look at Yosuke’s face. “Are you gonna stick with Junes?”

Yosuke thought it over for a moment. A tiny fire lit up in his eyes.

“Nope.”

“Then what are you gonna do?”

Yosuke looked up at the picture of the Kirijo Group’s headquarters on his computer’s monitor.

“Something really dumb.”

* * *

Yosuke hadn’t been to the Iwatodai area since the Port Island trip back in high school. God, that trip was a disaster. The boring lectures, the king’s game, not to mention that hotel. He still didn’t understand how Ms. Kashiwagi could’ve booked a place like that. Yosuke hoped she didn’t put any of the classes that followed his through something like that. Thankfully, she wasn’t in a position to do anything like that these days. After that incident with the gym teacher at that Tokyo prep school a year ago, high schools all over the country were in a rush to let go of teachers who were engaged in “inappropriate conduct”. Ms. Kashiwagi had been classified as one of these teachers, and was fired from Yasogami High. Yosuke was already away at college when this happened, but from what Chie had told him, she hadn’t responded to it well. First she tore off her shirt in an attempt to persuade the school board members to reconsider their decision. Then she tried to make out with the Principal, and even the cops who came to take her away, screaming that she was an “unparalleled beauty” and how they were “denying these young adults their first taste of the real world”.

But that was in the past. All things considered, Yosuke was enjoying his return to Port Island. The hotel he was staying at was nicer. Not significantly nicer, in fact it was kind of a hole, but at least it had a real bed and he didn’t have to hear the sounds of moaning through the wall. More than that, though, it was nice to be in a city again. Sure, Yosuke had lived in Sapporo while he was attending college, but the difference between then and now was that he had an idea of what he wanted to do with his life, and the urban environment was filled with the promise of a better life, instead of the faint hope that maybe he’d get his shit together sometime in the next four years. It was also nice to be by the water. The smell of the sea permeated the air, and there was something invigorating about it.

But as the taxi pulled up to the Kirijo Group’s main office, Yosuke remembered that this wasn’t a pleasure trip. Quite the opposite. With the stunt Yosuke was about to pull, he wouldn’t be surprised if he wound up in a lot of pain. There was no way in hell that it was going to be easy to break into the office of the most powerful woman in Japan.

Yosuke walked through the front doors wearing a grey suit with a white shirt and yellow tie and carrying a briefcase. He also had the old yellow-framed glasses Teddie gave him, because he thought they made him look a little more professional. True, most business men didn’t wear colorful spectacles, but it matched his tie, so he figured it probably didn’t seem that odd. Security had him go through a metal detector, but all he had on him was his headphones under his jacket and a bunch of dummy files inside the briefcase, so they didn’t hassle him. The receptionist asked him if she could help him with something, but he claimed to be early for a meeting and was waiting for the rest of his colleagues to arrive, sitting down in a bench and watching the front doors.

After about fifteen minutes, a trio of businessmen whose suits didn’t look any more expensive than Yosuke’s walked into the building. When they cleared through security and approached the front desk, he silently slipped behind them. As each man checked in, the receptionist would hand them a guest pass, then they’d head to the elevator. Finally, Yosuke wrote his own name on the sign-in sheet and accepted a guest pass, walking quickly to catch up with the three men. As he made his way to the elevator, he heard the receptionist pick up the phone.

“Yes, Ikumi-San, Kirijo-San’s two o’clock is here.”

The elevator doors opened and the three men stepped inside. Yosuke followed them.

“Yes, from Tanaka National. All four of them.”

Yosuke’s heart started to beat as one of the men pressed the top button, for the 30th floor.

“Yes, I said ‘four’... Their names?” The receptionist looked at the sign-in sheet. “Sakazuki, Goto, Taniguchi, and Hanamura.”

A bead of sweat formed on Yosuke’s forehead.

“That last one? His full name is ‘Yosuke Hanamura’.”

Yosuke saw the receptionist look back at the elevator fearfully as the doors closed. His throat dried up. If he was being honest with himself, he had already gotten further than he expected to. Now he just hoped he could keep up this momentum once the real challenge started.

Yosuke stared at the little screen above the elevator panel. The numbers kept climbing. It was one of the fastest elevators he’d ever been on. 11, 12, 13. He didn’t expect to make it all the way up to 30, but maybe Kirijo security was a bit slow today. If Yosuke could somehow make it up to within a few floors of 30, the walk up the rest of the way wouldn’t be too bad.

There was a loud buzzing sound as the elevator hit 21 and stopped suddenly. The three businessmen looked around confused, and Yosuke’s blood ran cold. Still, it was only 9 floors. He could make it 9 floors, right?

The elevator moved slowly. The number counted back down to 20. The doors opened and two tall, burly men in blue security uniforms stood there as the doors opened. It was like being stared down by two Kanjis.

“Which one of you is Yosuke Hanamura?” One of the men asked.

The three businessmen all looked at Yosuke suspiciously. The two guards grabbed one of his arms each and yanked him out of the elevator.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing!?” Yosuke started struggling as the two men pulled him away from the elevator.

“Yosuke Hanamura, you’re trespassing. We’re taking you to be held in the security office until the police arrive.”

“Son of a- let me go!”

Yosuke kept struggling as the two men pulled him along, dropping his briefcase. He slowly wriggled his arms out of the sleeves of his suit jacket and ducked down, slipping out of the entire thing like a tee shirt. Before the guards could register what just happened, Yosuke grabbed his briefcase, sprung it open, and and let the hundreds of sheets of paper inside fly free, filling the air and blocking the guards from seeing him.

Yosuke took a few steps back as the guards pawed their way through the cloud of paper, his heart racing. He needed to run. He needed to get to the stairs. He needed to climb 10 stories to the 30th floor and barge into Mitsuru Kirijo’s office, all without getting caught by these big bruisers and having the shit kicked out of him. As he reached the end of the hallway, he saw it split into two paths, one left, one right. Yosuke stopped for a moment, but when he heard the footsteps of the guards getting closer, he randomly picked the left path and made a mad dash. After a couple seconds, Yosuke realized he’d gone the wrong way. There was no emergency stairwell in sight. Just a solid wall. If he didn’t think of something fast, that was it, he was done.

Adrenaline finally kicked in, and it occurred to Yosuke that this was the perfect time to start applying some of the skills he learned in college. Nothing relevant to his economics degree, of course. The things he learned at Hokkaido University weren’t going to help him here. But the extracurricular activities he indulged in would.

When he came to the end of the hall, Yosuke planted one foot on the wall and then the other, running up along its surface and doing a backflip over the encroaching guards. He was really glad he decided to get into the parkour scene while living in Sapporo.

Yosuke turned as he landed and dashed towards the other end of the hallway. One of the guards pulled out a walkie talkie.

“He’s running towards the north stairway!”

Yosuke looked up and saw the very obvious exit sign pointing towards the stairwell. This was no good. He should've noticed that before. Yosuke was panicking, not taking in his surroundings, making poor choices that led to unnecessary risks. He needed to calm his nerves. Yosuke slipped his headphones over his ears as he approached the stairway, pulling up some music on his phone and hitting play. As the percussion kicked in, the feeling of the headphones over his ears and the glasses over his eyes brought him back to the same mental state he used to be in when he’d fight Shadows in the TV world. All of a sudden, he felt much more equipped to deal with the crazy situation he’d gotten himself into.

The wubs of electronic music started up on the track as Yosuke burst through the door to the emergency stairway, running up the stairs. By the time he passed the 22nd floor, electric guitar accompanied the sounds. Faintly, just beyond the music blasting in his ears, Yosuke could hear some guards approaching from above. When Yosuke reached the 25th floor, he saw guards coming in from right above him, and burst through the door, leaving the stairs.

Yosuke found himself in a large office space, full of cubicles, copy machines, and regular office workers going about their business. He also saw two more guards standing in front of him, both whipping out extending batons.

The lyrics started out, and Yosuke did his best Chie impression, lashing out his foot at one of the guards.

_IT’S A WAR OUT THERE EVERYDAY_

Yosuke’s foot collided with the guard’s hand, causing him to drop the baton. Yosuke caught it before it hit the ground and smacked the other guard’s hand with it, causing the second man to drop his baton as well. Yosuke snagged that one too.

_YOU CAN’T HIDE FROM IT, YOU GOTTA PLAY BY THE RULES, PLAY IT COOL_

The guards started swinging their fists at Yosuke, but he parried them with the batons. They didn’t have the same weight as his old knives or even the escrima sticks he used when he studied Filipino Martial Arts (another one of his college extracurriculars), but he could still use them pretty well.

_GOTTA LAUGH IN THE FACE OF THE SAD DISGRACE_

Yosuke wasn’t really trying to hurt his opponents, they were just guys doing their jobs. But those jobs involved stopping him from reaching Mitsuru, which would give him his dream job, so he couldn’t just give up and let them win. He hoped the repeated impact of thin swishing metal rods against their hands would serve as an effective deterrent, but these guys REALLY didn’t seem to mind pain. The Kirijo Group hired some good security personnel.

_WHEN YOUR FRIENDS AND FOES LOOK ALIKE ON THE FACE OF IT_

Yosuke dodged another punch and leapfrogged over a nearby copy machine. He recalled the guards from before saying that he had entered the “north” stairwell. Which meant there was probably a southern stairwell he could make use of. He just needed to get to the other side of this floor.

_THEY MISSED THEIR HISTORY BUT THEY FIGHT OVER PLACE IN IT_

On the other side of the copy machine, two more guards were waiting. 

_YEAH THEY FIGHT OVER PLACE IN IT_

Now surrounded by four guys, Yosuke was dodging punches, kicks, and a couple more metal batons that had found their way into the fray on all sides.

_HARD-HIT BY THE TIMES_

He felt like he was in some crazy action movie as he parried blows and lashed out at arms, knees, kidneys, and even faces once in a while.

_THAT’S JUST HOW YOUR LIFE GOES BY_

Yosuke ducked and use his batons to redirect an oncoming punch, leading one guard to break another one’s nose.

_I KNOW IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT YOU SAY_

Yosuke took advantage of the situation, unleashing a flurry of strikes against the guard with the broken nose.

_BUT THERE AIN’T NO OTHER WAY_

The guard fell over in pain, and Yosuke dashed past him, directly into a cubicle. He jumped past the shocked office worker inside, springing onto the woman’s desk and shooting up onto the thin top of the cubicle wall, running along the narrow surface like a ninja from some cartoon.

_SO STEP ON UP TO THE PLATE_

Yosuke ran as the guards followed from the floor, running around the block of cubicles. They started to fall behind him, but he could see one in the direction he was approaching, guarding a door with glowing exit sign above it.

_MEET YOUR FATE WALKIN’ STRAIGHT ON INTO THE LION’S LAIR_

As Yosuke reached the end of the cubicles, he leapt from the top and pounced towards the guard, smashing into him and using him as a human battering ram to open the door.

_STEP ON UP TO THE PLATE_

Yosuke sprung to his feet and began running up the stairs. He saw another guard waiting for him halfway between the 25th and 26th floors. The stairs were too narrow for Yosuke to jump off the walls, and leaping onto the handrail wasn’t a much better option. However, the guard DID have a wide stance, and Yosuke was a pretty lean guy. Yosuke dropped onto all fours and quickly snaked his way through the gap between the guard’s legs.

_‘CAUSE THIS AIN’T NO GAME_

As Yosuke rose, his foot snagged the guard, causing him to fall. Yosuke saw the guard about to fall down the stairs and turned around, grabbing his collar.

“I’VE GOT YOU!”

_IT’S TIME TO MAKE HISTORY YEAH!_

Yosuke held onto the handrail with one hand for dear life as he tried to pull the guard back into a stable position. As he tried to stop himself from committing accidental manslaughter, the various wubs and screeches of the music playing in his ear suddenly felt grossly inappropriate. Yosuke finally managed to get the guard stabilized, making sure he has both feet planted on the steps. The next verse of the song started up.

_YOU SINK YOU FALL YOU BREAK DOWN_

A fist collided into the back of Yosuke’s head, knocking his headphones off. Yosuke’s vision got dizzy. The guard in front of him drove a fist into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. There was another blow to the back of the head, and Yosuke lost consciousness.

* * *

 

When Yosuke came to, he was sitting on the bench in the lobby, his hands cuffed behind his back. Two cops were sitting on either side of him, and some bruised security personnel were staring daggers at him from the area around the elevators.

“Ugh, my head.” Yosuke looked around, his vision slowly coming into focus. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” One of the cops next to him asked. “You got into a fight with half a dozen guys and played ninja warrior in the accounting department of one of the biggest companies in Japan.”

“Oh yeah…” Yosuke felt himself being pulled to his feet. “What’s happening now?”

“What do you think, kid?” The other cop glared at Yosuke. “You committed trespassing, assault, and we may even be able to throw on a count of reckless endangerment. We were just waiting for you to wake up so we didn’t have to drag your face across the pavement to the squad car.”

“Assault? Seriously!?” Yosuke looked back the security guards, who were watching his arrest with a smile. “They attacked me first! It was self-defense!”

“Great, so it’s just trespassing and reckless endangerment.” The cop began to pull Yosuke towards the door. “You’re still under arrest.”

“That won’t be necessary, officer.”

The sound of heels on tile could be heard. All the guards moods dropped, and they stood up straight, as if standing at attention. The cops stopped escorting Yosuke out of the building and turned around, Yosuke following suit.

Mitsuru Kirijo walked up to them, wearing a white pantsuit and a cool smile.

“Yosuke Hanamura is not a trespasser” Mitsuru said.

“Come again?” one of the cops asked. The guards looked at each other with equal confusion.

“This entire scene was a surprise drill.” Mitsuru put her hand on her hip. “Hanamura is a specialist I hired to stage a break-in and put my security team to the test.” Mitsuru turned to the guards. “Gentlemen, you’ve done your job marvelously. Tres bien. Expect a bonus in your next paychecks.”

The guards all smiled at that, nudging each other on the arm. Mitsuru turned to the cops.

“Officers, if you wouldn’t mind releasing my specialist, I’d like to discuss his assessment of my security team in further detail.”

“Alright.” One of the cops unlocked Yosuke’s handcuffs. “Have a nice day, Kirijo-San.” The cop opened the door. “Oh, and next time you have one of these drills, notify the department. We can’t be wasting our men's time on stuff like this!”

“Of course.” Mitsuru nodded. Once the cops left, she turned to the Yosuke. “Are you alright, Hanamura?”

“Got a lump or two on my head, and maybe a bruise on my stomach, but I’ve dealt with worse.” Yosuke bowed his head at Mitsuru. “Thanks for the save there.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” Mitsuru glared at Yosuke, and he very quickly started wishing he was still unconscious. “Given our history, I am assuming you had a very good reason for causing a ruckus in my company. The police are gone, and I do not intend to call them back and admit that I have lied to them, so if I find your explanation for today’s incident insufficient, I’ll have to see to it that you disappear myself.”

Yosuke wanted to laugh Mitsuru’s statement off, but one look into her eyes told him that she was dead serious. He decided to be straightforward.

“I just wanted to talk to you. But when I called your office, your secretary wouldn’t even let me make an appointment.”

“And you thought breaking into my building was the best way to reach me?”

“Well, I figured any letters from me would get buried, your e-mail address isn't listed anywhere, and you’re not on social media, so…” Yosuke rubbed his head. It was still sore. “Look, I’m sorry. I know it was dumb. I knew it was dumb when I decided to do it. But it was the only thing I could think of, and I really needed to meet with you.”

“About what?” Mitsuru’s stare remained hard and icy.

“About joining the Shadow Op-“

“That’s enough.” Mitsuru's tone was harsh, and she raised her hand in Yosuke’s face to shut him up, but when she lowered it, he could see that she was smiling. “We’ll discuss this later. Somewhere private. Go to your room at the Port Island Royal Seaside Hotel and I’ll have someone sent for you later tonight.”

“Uh…” Yosuke remembered Labrys mentioning to him once how Mitsuru seemed totally disconnected from normal people, unaware of the limits of living without an enormous family fortune at their disposal. Did she really think he could afford to stay in the swankiest hotel in town? “I’m not staying at-“

“I had you checked out of that low-budget establishment you were staying at and checked into the Royal. Your belongings have already been moved, so you have some time to relax in a comfortable environment and recover from your ordeal.”

“Wow!” That news was making Yosuke feel a little better already. “Thanks, Mitsuru-San!”

“Think nothing of it. So long as you’re in town, you’re my guest.” Mitsuru's smile turned into a smirk and a slight chuckle escaped her lips. "And besides, watching the security footage of your break-in provided an entertaining distraction from the mundanity of running a multinational corporation. By the time you escaped the accounting department, I actually found myself rooting for you to make it to my office." Mitsuru pouted a bit and shook her head. "You got so very close. Just a few floors to go. C'est dommage."

"Sorry to disappoint at the end there."

"Your apology is accepted." Mitsuru turned around and began walking away. “There’s a car waiting outside to take you to your hotel. Until later, Hanamura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh I listened to the P4DAN remix of "Time to Make History" so many times while writing this I'm so sick of it.


	3. Business Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke sits down to dinner with Mitsuru.

As Yosuke stretched out on the hotel room’s plush king-sized bed, he felt euphoria. The pain from his earlier fight had dulled to a manageable soreness, but he couldn’t be bothered by it in the slightest at the moment.

“This place is amaaaaaziiiiiing.”

Yosuke had never been in a luxury hotel before. Until now he had thought the Amagi Inn was the height of class, and while it was definitely a great place in its own right, it just wasn’t in the same league as this. Yosuke had a a lot of space to walk around and stretch his legs out in, unlike his bedroom in Inaba or the dorm rooms he lived in during college. He had a huge bathtub with jacuzzi jets to lounge in. He had a beautiful view of the sea. And best of all, the room smelled so clean. No Teddie smell whatsoever. If this was how Mitsuru Kirijo treated her people, Yosuke couldn’t wait to start working for her.

Of course, Yosuke wasn’t an idiot. He knew this wouldn’t be everyday life as a Shadow Operative. For one, it was definitely less about lounging and more about research, reconnaissance, training, and battles. And he was figured that yeah, maybe the Shadow Operatives had a facility where the agents all bunkered down or something, and they might even be nice rooms to live in, but they probably weren’t fully-decked out with everything being the height of luxury. Mitsuru was just doing something nice for him. Maybe just out of the kindness of her heart. Maybe out of guilt for the fact that she never provided him with a way to reach her and all the trouble he had to go through to see her. Or maybe she was just buttering him up in case working for the Shadow Operatives was a nightmare unlike anything he could imagine and she could guilt-trip him later when he tried to leave, but all things considered that didn’t seem very likely.

The sun was starting to go down, and Yosuke managed to force himself to quit lying on the bed so he could watch the sunset over the ocean. Yosuke didn’t know if the Shadow Operatives lived in an underground bunker or some fancy tower, but he did know that so far in life, he hadn’t gotten the chance to look at a lot stuff like this, and it just wasn’t the kind of thing you passed up on when it came around.

Yosuke didn’t know how long he watched the sun set for, but he enjoyed every moment of it. The sun was halfway behind the ocean when Yosuke was pulled away from the view by the sound of knocking on the door.

“That must be the person Mitsuru-San said she was going to send for me.”

Feeling more relaxed and at peace than he had been in a long time, Yosuke slipped into his shoes and merrily made his way to the door. He opened it, and was greeted by a spritely, blonde-haired, blue-eyed caucasian man with a short nose that came to a sharp point and a single pierced ear. He was dressed in clothes that were just colorful enough without appearing garish, and he had an excited smile on his face.

“Konbanwa, ‘Anamura-San!” The man bowed three times very quickly, and it was only just now that Yosuke noticed the man had a garment bag slung over his shoulder. “My name eez Andre Laurent Jean Gereaux, but as many Nihonjin find my name ‘ard to pronounce, you may call me ‘Bebe’!” Bebe held out his hand. “Eet eez a delight to meet you!”

“Yeah, you too.” Yosuke took Bebe’s hand and shook it weakly, a bit dazed by the sudden uptick of energy in the room. This guy kind of reminded him of Teddie, but a lot more polite. “Are you here to take me to wherever Mitsuru-San wants to meet?”

“Ah, no, your escort for ze evening will be ‘ere a little later!” Bebe stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “Bebe eez ‘ere to make you look ‘andsome for your dinner!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ah, did Mitsuru-Sama not tell you? My apologies! Allow Bebe to explain!” Bebe bowed again. “Mitsuru-Sama eez taking you to a well-regarded steak ‘ouse for dinner! And Bebe eez 'ere to make sure zat you will be dressed to impress!”

“Really?” Yosuke looked at himself on the mirrored door of the closet. “Is my suit that bad?”

“Not at all! But zees restaurant, the clients are, ‘ow you say, ‘snooty’, yes? And Mitsuru-Sama ‘as appearances to keep up, and- Ah, Bebe is overcomplicating zeengs.” Bebe took a deep breath and quickly exhaled through his nose. “‘Anamura-San, Bebe does not judge a man living within 'is means. And your suit, while not top-of-zee-line, eez certainly not cheap, and Bebe believes you cut a dashing figure in eet.” Bebe held out the garment bag to Yosuke. “But with zees, you will cut an even MORE dashing figure! Zat, Bebe guarantees!”

“Alright…” Yosuke took the bag and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He began to take his clothes off. “So, are you a tailor or something?”

“Yes! Very good, ‘Anamura-San!” Bebe clapped his hands excitedly. “I ‘ave my own shop ‘ere on Port Island, and Mitsuru-Sama eez my best customer!”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Yosuke chuckled. “Mitsuru-San seems to have really high standards. It makes sense that she’d go to a French tailor.” 

“Ah, yes, Mitsuru-Sama loves France as much as I love Nihon, but zees eez not why we get along so famously!” Bebe looked out the window, where the final bits of orange were quickly vanishing from the sky. His tone sombered. “I was an underclassman to Mitsuru-Sama at Gekkoukan ‘Igh School. She was zee beloved of a dear friend of Bebe’s who sadly passed away while I was not in Nihon.”

“Oh.” Yosuke felt awkward. This was a lot more information than he expected to get when he decided to make conversation with this guy. “I’m sorry to hear about your friend.”

“You ‘ave nothing to apologize for, ‘Anamura-San! ‘E will always ‘old a place in Bebe’s ‘eart, but I ‘ave moved on with time!” Bebe’s speech grew enthusiastic again. “And even from such tragedy, a new beautiful friendship was born! When I learned of my friend’s passing, I reached out to Mitsuru-Sama to express my deepest sorrows and well-wishes, and she was kind enough to fly me in for ze funeral! From zere, we ‘struck eet off’, as zey say, and when I returned to Nihon for good, she even ‘elped me set up my business! I ‘ave since paid ‘er back in full, but she will always be Bebe’s most important customer! And so, when Mitsuru-Sama calls me today and says, ‘Bebe, I ‘ave a young friend in need of a fine suit, would you please send one of your people to fit 'im?’, I say ‘Non, non, non! For Mitsuru-Sama’s request, Bebe will go ‘imself!’”

“You’re gonna tailor the suit? Here?” Yosuke finished getting dressed, buttoning up the jacket provided to him. It already felt like it fit nicely. “Isn’t that going to take a while?”

“‘Ardly.” Bebe laughed proudly. It kind of reminded Yosuke of those ojousama laughs from television. “If you do not mind me tooting my own ‘orn, Bebe ‘as already tailored ze suit for you before coming 'ere!”

“How did you do that!?”

“Mitsuru-Sama provided Bebe with pictures of you, ‘Anamura-San! Bebe can tell measurements just by looking! You are 178 centimeters and about 59 kilograms, no?”

“No! I mean, yeah! That’s right!”

“See? Bebe, ‘e sees, ‘e knows! But I must say, ze pictures Bebe saw were most interesting. You were fighting large men and doing le parkour! Are you an action movie star, ‘Anamura-San?”

“Not really…” Yosuke was really glad that his friends weren’t here for this conversation. He didn’t think he’d be able to stomach the laughter that would’ve ensued from that question. And it was in that moment that Yosuke realized just why talking to Bebe felt so strange:

He wasn’t used to being complimented this much.

“I guess you could say I’m applying for a security job with Mitsuru-San’s company” Yosuke said. “The photos you saw were part of my audition.”

Yosuke stepped out of the bathroom, checking himself out in the full-length mirror. He was astonished by his reflection. He’d heard that clothes make the man, but he had no idea that a suit could make him feel this good. Bebe had given Yosuke an impeccably-sized jet-black suit with a double-breasted jacket, and it was the finest-looking, most comfortable suit he had ever worn in his life. He was especially fond of the deep gold tie and dark brown shoes provided with the outfit. They were so much nicer than the cheap tie and shoes he had bought at Junes.

“Well, if your audition was not enough to secure ze position, your stunning appearance during ze final interview will seal ze deal, yes?” Bebe smiled at his work.

“Oh yeah.” Yosuke gave the mirror the most dignified pose he could. “Definitely.”

* * *

Bebe left shortly afterwards, and a half hour later, Yosuke got a call telling him to come downstairs. Earlier, when Mitsuru had arranged a ride to the hotel for him, he’d been sent in a Kirijo Group company car, so he was expecting the same. Instead, upon exiting the hotel lobby, Yosuke was presented with a limousine, a chauffeur standing outside of it, waiting for him. When the chauffeur saw Yosuke’s face, he held the door of the limousine open for him.

“Good evening, Hanamura-San” the chauffeur said. “Kirijo-San awaits.”

“Thanks.” It took a surprising amount of willpower for Yosuke to stifle the 'dude' he naturally wanted to add onto the end of that sentence. Somehow it just didn’t seem appropriate to call a man driving a limousine 'dude'. Not that his mind lingered on it for long. Yosuke’s thoughts were all drawn to how cool the inside of the limo was. It was just like TV. The interior was roomy, larger and more comfortable than some rooms inside of buildings Yosuke had actually been in. He doubted the inside of the limo was actually larger than the room he shared with Teddie, but he definitely felt like he had more space to stretch out his legs than he would at home. Maybe it was just an illusion created by the luxury of it all. Whatever it was, Yosuke was determined to keep his cool in front of Mitsuru. After all, he could see a female figure sitting in shadow in the back of the car, but it wouldn’t do him any good to look like a total dork in front of his new employer.

“Good evening, Mitsuru-San” Yosuke said as coolly as he could.

“‘Mitsuru-San?’” The woman spoke in a familiar Kansai accent. There was a laugh, followed by the woman reaching up and pressing a button above her, turning on a light in the ceiling. “Geeze, Yosuke-Kun, I know I look a little different, but I thought for sure that ya would recognize me!”

“No way!” Yosuke completely lost his cool, his face forming a big dumb grin. “Labrys!?”

“Hiya!” It was indeed Labrys, though not as Yosuke remembered her. For one thing, she wasn’t dressed in a Yasogami High uniform. She was wearing something considerably more mature: A short blue evening dress that came up to just below the shoulders and down just above the knees. She was also wearing her hair shorter, her super-long ponytail replaced with a bob haircut that barely reached down past her neck. Of course, the biggest change was the lack of any obvious mechanical parts. Instead of the red arms and big, thick, steel legs, her limbs looked completely human, and she didn’t have that big metal thing that looked like a knight’s helmet sticking out of her head either. The mechanical wings were also gone. Labrys gave Yosuke a little wave with her very humany fingers. “So, how was my big reveal?”  


“Incredible!” Yosuke shifted along the long plush bench of the limo, getting closer and closer to Labrys. “I thought it was just gonna be me and Mitsuru-San tonight!”

“Well, sorry to ruin your date” Labrys said teasingly. “But Mitsuru-San told me how ya wanted t’join us and had me fly out here quick as I could!”

“You did?” Yosuke looked at Labrys curiously. “I don’t see your wings on you. Are they in the trunk or something?”

“Not that kinda flyin’! I came in on a helicopter!” Labrys held up her hand as if checking her nails. “And are the missin’ wings REALLY the only thing ya noticed?”

“Of course not!” Yosuke stared at Labrys’s hand. “What’s up with your look anyway? Have you been upgraded to shapeshift or something?

“I dunno that I’d call it an ‘upgrade’. These body parts ain’t really for combat.” Labrys put down her hand and looked Yosuke in the eye. “I mean, yeah, they’re still stronger than normal human limbs, and I could easily punch a hole in a brick wall with ‘em, but they’re more like stealth gear so I can go out without everyone starin’ at me.”

“Staring, huh?” Yosuke realized that this gaze was lingering on Labrys’s legs and turned his head away, his cheeks tinged pink. “Yeah, makes sense. Staring is bad.”

“Yeah, we’re a covert operation. It’d be pretty bad if strangers all had their eyes on me everywhere I went.” Labrys leaned back in her seat. “But that only goes for folks who don’t know what I am. It’s alright if YOU look at me, Yosuke-Kun.”

“Right, duh.” Yosuke’s face turned even redder as he looked back at Labrys, trying to keep his focus on her face. He quickly got through the awkwardness he was feeling, and the two engaged in normal conversation as the car started moving. On the way to the restaurant, Yosuke and Labrys talked about Yu and the others, as much about Labrys’s activities as she was allowed to reveal, and of course, Yosuke’s attempted break-in to the Kirijo Group HQ. Labrys asked Yosuke to recount the entire adventure to her, so naturally, he gave a heavily embellished version in which he fought a couple dozen men and had to climb up an elevator cable. At the end of his story, Labrys revealed she had already watched the security footage and started laughing.

“Come on!” Once again, Yosuke’s face was red as a beet. “If you knew everything already, why’d you let me go through with all of that!?”

“I dunno.” Labrys stopped laughing really quickly. Yosuke mused how Yukiko never would’ve been able to shut off her laughter like flipping a switch, then remembered Labrys was a robot and wondered if she actually COULD turn off laughter like that. “I guess I wanted t’see how far ya’d go tryin’ to impress me.”

“What?” Yosuke cocked his eyebrow, his body jerking forward a bit with the stopping of the car. “What does that mean?”

Labrys was about to answer when the partition lowered. The chauffeur looked back at the two from the driver’s seat.

“We have arrived.”

Labrys led Yosuke out of the limo and down a dock-like walkway to a restaurant built on stilts sticking into the water. It was a large establishment with a French name Yosuke couldn’t translate, 'L’Tombe Des Vaches'. When they entered, Labrys handed a slip of paper to the maitre d’ (Yosuke wasn’t sure where she produced it from, as she had neither a purse on her person nor pockets on her dress, and decided it would be unwise to ask), who silently nodded and led them upstairs. Finally, they arrived at a room with large double doors. When they passed through it, they found a large room that looked like it could easily seat 20 people, with an entire wall that was a window overlooking the now-dark sea. And all the way over near the window was a single table, at which Mitsuru Kirijo was waiting for them, wearing the same suit Yosuke saw her in earlier, though the jacket was removed and she was wearing the catsuit Yosuke first met her in five years ago. Yosuke and Labrys sat down at the table, and Mitsuru dismissed the maitre d’.

“Good evening, Hanamura.” Mitsuru was already sipping from a wine glass, a freshly-opened bottle of red wine left in the middle of the table. “I trust the past few hours have been refreshing for you?”

“Yeah, it’s great.” Yosuke was a little nervous. Even ignoring Mitsuru’s unconventional attire, the fact was, he was in the fanciest eatery he’d ever been in, in a private room with two very attractive women. And while he knew this was all a business affair, he still felt WAY out of his depth. Maybe if he got that out in the open, he’d feel a bit more at ease. “I really gotta thank you for everything, Mitsuru-San.”

“There’s no need for that.” Mitsuru put down her wine glass. “I’m treating you the same way I’d treat any promising candidate for the Shadow Operatives.”

“Yeah, well, it’s still a lot better treatment than I’m used to.” Yosuke looked out at the ocean, staring at the lights of a ship sailing along the horizon. “Not just saving me from getting arrested, but the hotel, this suit, the limo ride, and now we’re here at this restaurant, where I’m sure I’ll have the best meal I’ve ever eaten once I decide what to order.” Yosuke placed his hand on the table in front of him, feeling around for the menu. Upon looking down, he discovered there wasn’t one.

“Somethin’ wrong, Yosuke-Kun?” Labrys asked.

“I think the waiter forgot to give us our menus” Yosuke said.

“He’s not a waiter, he’s the maitre d’” Mitsuru said. “And he didn't forget our menus. I ordered for all three of us before you got here.”

“You did?” Yosuke frowned. “That’s a little- I mean, I’m sure you’ve got excellent taste, Mitsuru-San, but how can you be sure what I-“

“I had my people build a profile of your culinary preferences based on your college credit card history and security footage from the Junes food court” Mitsuru said. “From there I instructed them to look at this restaurant’s menu and select some items that would suit your palette.”

“What!?” This information was not helping Yosuke’s nerves. “You hacked into my financial records!?”

“It was done to save us time so we could immediately start discussing you joining our organization.” Mitsuru gave Yosuke a bored look. “Besides, we would have hacked into all of that information before admitting you anyway. We take it upon ourselves to extensively research all potential candidates.”

“Isn’t that kind of an invasion of-“

“Hush.” Mitsuru stared at the door to the room. It opened and a waiter came in, placing salads in front of Yosuke and Mitsuru. Mitsuru immediately took a bite of hers, her mood lightening up considerably. She swallowed and looked up at Yosuke as the waiter left. “Please, eat, Hanamura. This is a dinner meeting, after all.” Mitsuru gestured to the wine bottle in the center of the table. “And feel free to help yourself to some wine as well. So long as you drink in moderation, a little alcohol won’t have a negative effect on tonight’s proceedings.”

“Sure…” As Yosuke poured himself some wine, Labrys spoke up.

“To answer your question, Yosuke-Kun, once ya join the Shadow Operatives, privacy’s somethin’ ya kinda gotta give up.”

“Labrys is entirely right” Mitsuru said. “Shadow Operatives’ whereabouts and communications are monitored at all times. If you joined us, just about all of your activities would be kept on record for security reasons.”

“Oh, well…” Yosuke watched Mitsuru eat as he tried to wrap his head around her words. “I guess that makes sense, but it’s still a little overwhelming.”

“That’s the point of this dinner” Labrys said. “To let ya know what ya’d be gettin’ into and give ya a last chance to back out.”

“Joining the Shadow Operatives is not something to be taken lightly” Mitsuru said. “If you were to join, you would have to leave Inaba, relocated to a secret facility from which you would not be allowed to leave for a one-month orientation period.”

“A whole month!?” Yosuke’s fork went flying out of his hand, landing on the ground several feet away. “I knew you took this secret organization thing seriously, but isn’t that kinda extreme!?”

“That’s the idea.” Labrys held out her arm towards the fork. Before Yosuke could even stand up, her hand shot out, attached to her wrist by a chain, and grabbed the utensil. Labrys retracted her hand and held out the fork to Yosuke. “We don’t just take anyone. We gotta know that ya won’t break under pressure.”

“I get it, but still…” Yosuke took the fork back from Labrys. “I broke into the headquarters of the biggest company in Japan. That shows how serious I am about this, doesn’t it?”

“You attempted to reach the top floor of an office building and failed” Mitsuru said. “If you had tried to infiltrate an actually-important Kirijo Group facility, you would be dead right now.”

“Ok, but that was in the human world!” Yosuke straightened his back, trying to make himself appear as big as possible, and shoveled a forkful of salad into his mouth. “I’d be fighting Shadows, and I’m a Persona user. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Yosuke-Kun, relax.” Labrys put her hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. “We ain’t sayin’ we don’t think ya got what it takes. But there’s more to this stuff than ya realize.”

“Labrys is correct.” Mitsuru’s brows knitted. “A Shadow Operative wears many different hats, and needs to be able to hold up under pressure. It’s not simply exterminating Shadows. There’s information gathering, dealing with government officials, and even international travel involved.”

“Whoa, really!?” Yosuke very nearly lost his fork again, but managed to avoid dropping it this time. “You mean I’d get to go to different countries!?”

“It wouldn’t be a sight-seeing trip, but yes” Mitsuru said. “In fact, right as we speak, Aigis, thanks to some connections of Akihiko’s, is in France working with Interpol to hunt down Sho Minazuki.”

“That guy’s still out there!?” Yosuke nearly choked on a cherry tomato, but managed to cough it back out of his throat.

“He’s like a rat, always sneakin’ around” Labrys said. “Hong Kong, Argentina, France, we get word of a sightin’ of him every few months, but by the time we get somebody out there, he’s already long gone.” Labrys sunk into her chair and crossed her arms. “I wouldn’t be surprised if my sis was wastin’ her time. He’s probably already escaped to the Netherlands or somethin’.”

“Of course, the Netherlands is just speculation” Mitsuru said. “We have no idea how he gets to these destination or why he picks them. He leaves no kind of digital record, so we can assume he stows away on ships and survives by stealing what he can. The only thing we know for sure is that there’s always some bloodshed in the places he’s been.”

“Maybe I can help track him” Yosuke said. “You guys have been at this for five years, right? Maybe a fresh pair of eyes is what you need.”

“Perhaps you can. If you complete your orientation.” Mitsuru smiled at Yosuke. “And if that does happen, I’d very much like to get Shirogane’s help with the case too. Perhaps you could serve as her primary contact within our organization.”

“Naoto? I don’t-“

Mitsuru raised her hand and looked to the door. It opened again and a waiter brought in another cart. This one had three plates with large steaks on each of them. The waiter handed the trio their dinner, then promptly left. Mitsuru and Labrys immediately began to dig in.

“You were saying?” Mitsuru asked as she speared the slab of beef in front of her with her fork.

“I dunno if Naoto would be up for an international investigation right now” Yosuke said. “She and Yu are about to open their own detective agency, and-“

“Even better” Mitsuru said, sawing off a chunk of meat with her steak knife. “Narukami has a sharp mind. I’d be glad to have his assistance in this matter as well.”

“Those two are the best, but that’s not what I mean.” Yosuke shook his head. “Since they’re starting up their own business, I don’t think they’d be able to spare an entire month to get all orientated.”

“You misunderstand. I don’t intend to recruit Narukami and Shirogane to the Shadow Operatives.” Mitsuru took another sip of wine. “I would want them working with us, not for us. They wouldn’t have access to the same resources a full agent would, but we would be willing to cooperate with them and provide them with what they need. Of course, if they wish to join, I would certainly allow them, but there are certain advantages to having allies that aren’t officially members of the organization.”

“Not that any of the stuff we do is on some kinda official record, but y’know what Mitsuru-San means.” Labrys stuck a piece of steak into her mouth.

“Alright, well I’m sure they’d be more than happy to work wi-“ Yosuke put down his fork and stared at Labrys.

“Somethin’ wrong, Yosuke-Kun?”

“You’re eating.”

“Yeah. I wanna enjoy the gourmet dinner too.” Labrys’s eyes narrowed. “Ya got a problem with that?

“Of course not!” Yosuke threw up his hands. “I just didn’t know you needed to eat, is all.”

“Yeah, it’s experimental tech.” Labrys tapped on her stomach. “I got a nuclear-powered mass converter in my gut that takes physical matter and turns it into energy I can use.”

“What!? Nuclear?!” Yosuke scooted his chair away from Labrys a bit. “Is it safe for me to be here without a lead suit!?”

“Prob’ly.” Labrys shrugged and started cutting off another bite of steak. “The lab boys say they’re pretty sure they’ve fixed the leakage problem.”

“‘Pretty sure’!?”

“Relax, Hanamura.” Mitsuru was focused on her dinner. “Labrys is lying. There is no experimental nuclear technology in this room.”

“Mitsuru-San, you ruined the prank!” Labrys glared at Mitsuru. “I was gonna pretend I was gonna overload in a minute and see how bad I could scare him!”

“We are here for business, not tomfoolery” Mitsuru said sternly.

“Yeah, well…” Labrys sighed and turned to Yosuke. “I don’t gotta eat, but we figured it’d be better for undercover ops if I could. If we gotta work with somebody from outside the agency longterm, it’d be bad if they never saw me eat anythin’. They even gave me this artificial tongue with workin’ taste sensors to make it look more convincin’. See?” Labrys stuck out her tongue and wriggled it around to demonstrate how realistic it looked, even curling it into a little u.

“But where does the food go?” Yosuke stared at Labrys’s body curiously for a moment, then looked back up at her in disgust. “Actually, you don’t have to answer that.”

“Relax, the stealth model ain’t THAT realistic.” Labrys rubbed her stomach. “I got a temperature-controlled compartment in my stomach. I’m gonna give the leftovers to Koromaru when I get home. He’ll love it.”

“You need to stop indulging him so often” Mitsuru said. “He’s developed a nasty little begging habit ever since you joined us that he didn’t used to have in the days of S.E.E.S..”

“But he’s a good boy!” Labrys protested. “He deserves treats!”

“Let’s get back on track.” Mitsuru looked up at Yosuke, very clearly trying to fight an oncoming smile. “For the one-month orientation, you would be confined to an underground facility, unable to see the sun or communicate with the outside world. There will be several exams administered at the beginning and end of orientation, testing your physical ability, general knowledge, and your skills with your Persona.”

“My Persona?” It occurred to Yosuke that somehow, despite how excited he was to fight Shadows and go on adventures again, he had completely overlooked the fact that he hadn’t been able to summon his Persona in five years. “You have a way to summon it in the real world?”

“We can create an area where you’ll be able to use it. I imagine you’re more than a little rusty.” Mitsuru scanned Yosuke with her eyes, a slight look of disapproval forming. “To be perfectly candid, you aren’t up to operative standards yet, but that’s why orientation lasts a month. There will be a series of classes and training sessions designed to get you to the level of the rest of our agents.” Mitsuru’s eyes locked onto Yosuke’s, and he felt a chill run up his spine as if she was shooting rays of intimidation at him. “If you think you can handle it, that is.”

“I can handle it.” Yosuke’s voice wavered a bit, but his eyes were full of determination. “I can handle anything you can throw at me.”

“Are you absolutely certain?” Mitsuru kept her icy gaze fixed on Yosuke’s eyes. “Orientation is not for the weak. Once you agree to undergo this process, your life belongs to us. That remains true even if you fail or drop out. We would keep monitoring you for the rest of your life because of what you know, and if we’re ever given the slightest reason to think you would compromise our mission, even as a civilian, we would make you disappear forever.”

Yosuke tore his eye away from Mitsuru to look at Labrys. The robot girl had a grim expression on her face, as if she were trying to telepathically convey that everything Mitsuru had just said was 100% true.

“This is your last chance to back out. I won’t think any less of you for it.” Mitsuru smirked at Yosuke, and there was a certain predatory quality to it. Where just a moment ago she was projecting an aura telling him to run away for his own good, now he felt like she was telling him to run because she was coming to catch him herself. “Make sure you want to do this. Because once I pick you up from your hotel tomorrow morning, you stop being my guest and become my cadet. And then comes a month of Hell.”

“Hell, huh?” Time seemed to stop for a moment. Despite the smile on her face, Yosuke could tell that Mitsuru’s words were deadly serious. He had discussed this with Yu a couple times, but this was still a massive commitment.

“Ya don’t gotta do this if ya don’t wanna, Yosuke-Kun.” Labrys’s voice was tender. “I won’t think any less of ya if ya walk away either.”

“No, I can do this.” Yosuke gave Labrys and Mitsuru a cocky grin. “I’ve been to Heaven before. It was messed up. I figure it’s time I see what the other place is like.”

“Very well then. No regrets, Hanamura.” Mitsuru chuckled and raised her glass. “Shall we commemorate this moment with a toast?”

“Yeah.” Yosuke raised his glass. “Here’s to Hell!”

“Hear, hear!” Labrys’s glass was empty, but she raised it anyway. “We’re gonna break ya down and build ya up again, Yosuke-Kun!”

And like that, Yosuke’s fate was sealed. Not with a bang or the ringing of a gong, but with a simple clink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question: Why does Bebe say "Nihon" when everyone else says "Japan" even if the idea is they're all speaking Japanese?
> 
> Answer: Look I just try to follow the writing conventions of the games, take it up with Atlus USA.
> 
> Sorry for the delay on this one. I decided to do a FeMC playthrough of P3P to get a better feel for the S.E.E.S. members, since most of them only have social links in that run. I could've just YouTubed it, but I wanted to experience it firsthand. And technically I'm not done the playthrough yet, but I really wanted to get back to writing.


	4. The Magicians' Duel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke dusts off his Persona.

Yosuke had no idea where he was. Presumably, he was in the sky, but the only real reason he had to believe that was the sound of helicopter blades. Mitsuru had picked him up from his hotel first thing in the morning and put a bag over his head the second he stepped into the limo. From there, it was all silence as Yosuke was moved around for what felt like hours. Every once in a while he’d try to ask a question, but Mitsuru would just tell him to be quiet and wait. Finally, Yosuke felt a slight impact and the sound of helicopter blades came to a slow stop. He started to rise out of his seat, but felt Mitsuru’s hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down.

“Patience, Hanamura. We’re almost there.”

Yosuke felt a rumbling and heard a bunch of mechanical sounds. If he had to guess, the helicopter had landed on some kind of platform that was secretly an elevator, and had begun descending into the underground facility that had been mentioned to him before. When the rumbling stopped, the bag was finally pulled off of Yosuke’s head. The first thing he felt was cool air on his sweaty face, although he couldn’t relish in the feeling thanks to the light blinding him. Yosuke squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light, and when his vision finally came back, he saw a maid about Mitsuru’s age standing in front of him.

“We have arrived at our destination, Yosuke-San.” The maid held a bottle of water out to Yosuke. “I imagine you’re somewhat thirsty after losing so many fluids. Please take a moment to rehydrate before we continue.”

“Thanks, uh…” Yosuke took the water bottle and cracked it open.

“My name is Kikuno. I am Lady Mitsuru’s maid.”

“‘Kikuno'. Got it. Nice to meet you.” Yosuke chugged the water bottle quickly, taking a deep breath when he was done. “So, this place has maids?”

“Kikuno’s more than just a maid.” Mitsuru’s voice was coming from behind Kikuno. Yosuke looked around the maid and saw Mitsuru standing by the helicopter door. “She’s a full-fledged Shadow Operative, though she doesn’t have a Persona like you and I.”

“Seriously!?” Yosuke stared at Kikuno’s headdress. “What’s with the maid outfit, then?”

“It is only proper” Kikuno said. “My duties have changed in the years I have worked for Lady Mitsuru, but my job title has not.”

“So you’re a maid AND a secret agent?” Yosuke couldn’t stop himself from laughing a little. “This sounds like something out of a manga.”

“However it may sound to you, that is exactly the case.” Kikuno stood proudly. “I am the only member of the Shadow Operatives’ support staff cleared for field duty and given an official agent number. I am Agent 8.” A haughty smile appeared on Kikuno’s face. “That ranks me above Labrys-San, and should you pass orientation, yourself as well, Yosuke-San.”

“Don’t make the mistake of thinkingKikuno is here to clean up after you.” Mitsuru glared at Yosuke. “She’s my eyes and ears here when I’m away tending to the rest of the Kirijo Group’s business, and runs this facility in my absence. Which means you’re not to bother her during the remainder of your orientation. Is that clear?”

“Yes ma’am!” Yosuke instinctively leapt to his feet, standing at attention.

“Excellent. Let’s go meet with the others.”

Mitsuru stepped off the helicopter. Yosuke and Kikuno followed behind her, and the three walked across a metal bridge leading from the helicopter platform/elevator inside of a large concrete chamber with high ceilings. Waiting at the other end of the bridge was a small gathering of people, though the only one Yosuke identified immediately was Labrys. It took him a moment to remember the names, but he quickly recognized Junpei Iori. The only difference between Junpei from five years ago and Junpei now was that he had a bit more muscle to him. The dog was Koromaru, of course, and for being five years older he seemed just as healthy as ever. The one that puzzled Yosuke was the tall, gangly beanpole of a man who had a stern expression on his face, as opposed to the welcoming smiles of the other three. With very short light brown hair, an impeccable black suit, square glasses with thick black frames, and a bit of a babyface, he looked like some kind of junior businessman. Finally, Yosuke realized that this was Ken Amada, the kid who was actually four years his junior. Not that you’d be able to tell these days. Ken had gone through quite the growth spurt, and now towered above everybody else, easily as tall as Kanji.

“This is the team I’m entrusting with your training for the next month” Mitsuru said. 

“Aw man, this is great!” Junpei stepped forward and put his arm around Yosuke’s shoulder. “I finally get to boss someone else around!”

“Iori will handle the physical aspects of your training, building your strength, stamina, and helping you re-acclimate to using your Persona.”

“Got it” Yosuke said. “I look forward to training with you, Junpei-San.”

“Just call me ‘Coach’, rookie. No, wait!” Junpei took his hand off Yosuke and flashed a huge grin. “‘Senpai’! I’ve been a Persona user a lot longer than you, after all.”

“Sure thing, Junpei-Senpai.”

“Whoa, you’re seriously gonna do it!?” Junpei’s eyes widened. “I was just kidding! I mean, I’m not complainin’ or anything, if you wanna call me ‘Senpai’, I won’t stop you.”

“Are you done, Junpei-San?” Ken asked.

“Amada will instruct you in proper agent procedure” Mitsuru said. “Ordinarily, we’d have Aigis performing that task, but she’s currently deployed in the field.”

“It’s good to see you again, Yosuke-San.” Ken stepped forward with his hands hidden behind his back.

“Good to see you too, Ken.” Yosuke considered tacking “Senpai” onto the end of that statement, but it’d just feel too weird calling a kid younger than him that.

“Hm…” A devious smile appeared on Ken’s face and he handed Yosuke a very thick book. “You may come to reconsider that soon.”

“What’s this?” Yosuke looked at the book’s cover. “‘Security Department, Shadow Response Unit Operative Guidelines’?”

“That’s our operating manual” Ken said. “Over the next month, I’m going to drill every last word of that book into your brain. I hope you’re a quick study, Yosuke-San.”

“Oh boy.” The manual suddenly felt very heavy in Yosuke’s hands.

“Finally, Labrys is in charge of your wellbeing.” Mitsuru’s expression lightened a bit. “We’re going to push you to the brink, but not past it. Labrys will monitor your vitals and make sure you’re getting proper rest during your off time. She’s also been trained to administer medical aid if you require it.”

“That’s right!” Labrys gave Yosuke a thumbs up. “I’m gonna stick to ya like glue, Yosuke-Kun!”

Koromaru barked.

“Oh, of course!” Labrys tilted her head down towards Koromaru. “Koromaru’s gonna be my assistant.”

Koromaru gave a series of several short barks.

“He also wants ya t’know that pettin’ dogs is supposed to be highly therapeutic, and that givin’ him lots of pets at the end of your daily trainin’ is a good way to destress.”

“I’ll keep that in mind” Yosuke said.

“Alright!” Junpei loomed over Yosuke, full of energy. “You ready to begin?”

“Already?” Yosuke took a step back. “I just got here, man!”

“It’s day one of training! We’ve got four weeks to whip you into shape, so let’s do it!”

“Don’t I have to put away my stuff first?” Yosuke looked down at the small rolling suitcase he brought with him to Iwatodai. “Come to think of it, I’ve only got like, three days of clothes in here.”

“You’ll be provided with clothing suitable for your needs while you’re here. We’ll store away your personal affects for the next month.” Mitsuru held out her hand. “Which reminds me, I’ll be needing your phone now.”

“Right.” Yosuke reached into his pocket and clutched his phone, but paused before pulling it out. “Can I shoot off one quick message to my friends to let ‘em know I’m ok? They’re gonna get kinda worried if they don’t hear from me for a full month.”

Mitsuru withdrew her hand, placing it on her chin. The room was completely silent as she stood in thought, everybody waiting to see what she’d say. Apparently she hadn’t considered this beforehand. After a minute, Mitsuru held out her hand again.

“Labrys will help you make a call at the end of the day. Choose one person to spread the word to the others, and make sure not to say anything that would compromise our operation in a recording. For now, I’ll put your phone into storage.”

“Alright…” Yosuke reluctantly relinquished his phone.

“Thank you.” Mitsuru put away the phone and turned to Junpei. “Iori, he’s all yours.”

“Alright!” Junpei started walking out of the room and waved for Yosuke to follow him. “C’mon rookie, it’s time for your first test!”

“Alright. I’m getting kinda pumped!” Yosuke followed Junpei with a bounce in his step. “What’s the first test?”

“It’s me kickin’ your ass!”

* * *

Junpei took Yosuke to the Dark Room, a large metal chamber that, despite the name, had some very large fluorescent lights dotted all over the ceiling.

“So, I’ll just go ahead and ask the obvious question.” Yosuke squinted as he stared at the ceiling. “Why is this the ‘Dark Room’?”

“We can turn this whole room into a Dark Zone” Junpei said. “It’s a special area that recreates the Dark Hour, letting us use our Personas.”

“Is that safe to do indoors?”

“You kidding? It’s fine.” Junpei stomped on the metal floor. “This place can stand up to a tank, no sweat! Even the observation deck’s got some kinda super-strong Kirijo-brand bulletproof glass, so we can go wild!”

“Observation deck?” Yosuke looked around until he noticed a large window up high in the walls. Mitsuru and everybody else was up there looking down at the two of them, even Kikuno.

“Here’s the rules, rookie.” Junpei put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. “You and I are gonna fight using only our Personas. No weapons or fist-fighting allowed.”

“You sure you wanna do this?” Yosuke stretched out his arms. “If I remember right, you don’t handle wind so well. Your Persona gets knocked over by a stiff breeze.”

“Keep talkin’ shit, rookie.” Junpei cracked his knuckles. “All that hot air you’re blowin’ is just gonna feed my flames!”

“Mon dieu, there’s two of them.” Mitsuru’s voice rang out from a speaker in the wall.

“We can hear you, Mitsuru-Senpai!” Junpei yelled.

“Yes, that was on purpose.” Mitsuru scoffed. “Are you two ready to start fighting or do you want to continue this pointless show of machismo some more?”

“We’re good to go!” Yosuke yelled.

“Excellent.” Mitsuru turned to Kikuno. “Activate the Dark Zone.”

“Yes, Lady Mitsuru.”

The air in the room turned cold, and the lights overhead became tinged with green. Junpei pulled an evoker out of his pocket and twirled it on his finger, finally stopping to point it at his own head and pull the trigger.

“PERSONA!”

Trismegistus appeared in all of its gold-winged glory. Junpei held out the evoker.

“I know it’s been a while since you’ve used your Persona. Need some help gettin’ it to come out?”

“I don’t think so.” Yosuke held out his hand and concentrated. He tried to remember what it used to feel like every time he summoned his Persona. He pictured Takehaya Susano-o in his mind, floating shuriken, flaming afro and all. He remembered what it felt like to manipulate the wind, the sensation of projecting his will onto a giant avatar of his inner self, which moved as easily as he controlled his own body. Yosuke slipped on his glasses and headphones to concentrate. Even without a phone to plug into so he could listen to his tunes, just having the headphones on helped him focus a bit. Yosuke shut his eyes, blocking out anything that didn’t come from within. And soon enough, he felt a tingling at his fingertips. Yosuke opened his eyes and saw a familiar glowing blue card in his hand. It had the number 1 at the bottom, an infinity symbol at the top, and a pair of eyes, pair of hands, and a plume of flame pictured between them.

Yosuke didn’t have a knife on him, so closed his fingers around the card, a crackle of energy surging through his body.

“COME, TAKEHAYA SUSANO-O!”

Yosuke felt a presence looming over him and turned around to see his Persona, just the same as it had been all those years ago.

“Oh man, that’s one funky Persona!” Junpei threw his finger high up in the air and stuck his leg out to the side, doing an old dance move Yosuke was pretty sure his dad had called “the point” one time. “We gonna have a dance-off or what!?”

Yosuke had some very unpleasant flashbacks. Flashbacks involving a group of kidnapped idols and a whole truckload of embarrassment as he was surrounded by applauding Shadows. Flashbacks about events the entire Investigation Team made a solemn vow never to speak of again.

“Just shut up and fight!”

Yosuke pointed at Trismegistus. The shuriken around Takehaya Susano-o started spinning at a rapid pace, and the Persona thrust his hand out towards his opponent. A tornado of green air currents formed in mid-air and started making it way towards Trismegistus. Junpei dropped to the ground to avoid the blast, while his Persona pivoted like a dancer, gracefully twirling around the tornado without getting caught in it.

“Goin’ full blast at the start, huh?” Junpei grinned and rose to his feet, Trismegistus flying up into the air. “Careful there, rookie! It’s easy to overexert yourself when you haven’t done this in a while!”

“Don’t worry about me!” Yosuke crossed his arms and looked up, watching Trismegistus circle overhead like a vulture. “Are you gonna keep running your mouth, or are you gonna come at me?”

“Hey, I said I was gonna kick your ass, didn’t I?”

Junpei raised his hand above his head and Trismegistus stopped moving, hovering high in the air directly over Takehaya Susano-o. Junpei swung his hand down, and Yosuke willed Takehaya Sunsano-o to jump out of the way.

“Gotcha.” Junpei tilted his head to the side. Yosuke looked up and saw Trismegistus hadn’t actually moved with Junpei’s arm, but now it was diving diagonally through the air at a still-moving Takehaya Sunano-o. Trismegistus slammed beak-first into its foe’s shoulder, knocking Takehaya Susano-o over. Yosuke felt a stabbing sensation in his shoulder and lost balance, falling to the ground as well.

Yosuke screamed in pain as he went down. It had been a long time since he’d felt pain through his Persona. Sure, he’d gotten himself hurt at various points through the last five years. Getting conked on the head by an object Teddie didn’t shelve properly, some hits in his martial arts training, even a nasty fall or two when practicing parkour, but it was nothing like this. When your Persona got hurt, it was a pain you felt down to your very soul. And also on your body. The impact Yosuke felt as he hit the ground didn’t begin to measure up to what he felt when the two Personas collided. Yosuke clutched his shoulder and starting breathing heavily, trying to maintain his focus so Takehaya Susano-o didn’t vanish completely.

“You alright there, Yosuke?” Junpei walked over and crouched down, trying to see if he had broken anything. “You’re not throwing in the towel already, are you?”

Junpei’s head jerked back suddenly, and he felt a stinging pain in his cheek. He looked over to the Personas to see that Takehaya Susano-o had punched Trismegistus in the head while he was distracted. Junpei tasted a bit of blood in his mouth and heard Yosuke chuckling. He looked back down at his sparring partner.

“I told you not to worry about me…” A green light surrounded Yosuke, a similar energy being emitted from his Persona, and the slightly-younger fighter slowly rose to his feet. He seemed to have completely recovered from the first hit, and gave Junpei a menacing grin. “Then again, maybe you should.”

Yosuke and Junpei stepped away from each other, and the battle began for real. Trismegistus and Takehaya Susano-o grappled with each other, fingers locked as their users tried to overpower each other through force of will. Yosuke broke the deadlock by having his Persona spin around like a tornado, eventually letting go and throwing Trismegistus into a wall. Junpei shrugged off the pain of the crash and Trismegistus shot a fireball, which Takehaya Susano-o tanked, sustaining no damage. Yosuke’s Persona started closing the distance, and Junpei glared at it. Trismegistus’s eyes glowed red, and a matching aura surrounded Takehaya Susano-o. Trismegistus shot another fireball, and this time, when it hit Takehaya Susano-o, Yosuke felt the burn. Yosuke halted his assault to cast Dia on himself again, and Trismegistus folded its wings over its body, charging up power. As Takehaya Susano-o resumed moving, Trismegistus unfolded its wings, and several pillars of fire erupted from the floor. Yosuke tried to guide Takehaya Susano-o between the columns of flame, and felt several more burns form on his body as the fire grazed his Persona. Yosuke fought through the pain and got his Persona in close. 

The two Personas clashed over and over, the sharp edges of Trismegistus’s wings coming up against the shuriken of Takehaya Susano-o. With every attempted strike, Yosuke felt more sore and tired, but the same looked like it was holding true for Junpei. Still, Junpei seemed to be handling the exchange of blows better than Yosuke, and Yosuke realized that if he turned this into a war of attrition, he’d definitely lose. 

Yosuke had Takehaya Susano-o let out another Garudyne at point-blank range. Apparently Junpei had a similar plan, because Trismegistus launched an Agidyne at the exact same time. The raging fire combined with the volatile wind currents and mixed into a huge explosion that sent both Personas flying and laid the humans in the chamber on their backs.

“Son of a…” Yosuke groaned and flopped over onto his stomach, his eyes pointed at his Persona laying on the ground. Junpei knew how to fight. And he’d been doing it longer and more consistently than Yosuke. Even with an elemental advantage, brute force was not working. Yosuke thought back to all his past adventures. How he used speed to his advantage, rushing in against Shadows before the others could. Sure, Yu or Kanji would finish off enemies with a hard hit, but Yosuke was always the one to jump into the thick of it and soften them up first. And he was so deft, so nimble. Junpei wasn’t that fast, but it was almost like he could predict Yosuke’s movements or something. Yosuke needed a trump card.

And he was pretty sure he had one. It took a lot of focus, but Takehaya Susano-o slowly stood up and held his hands out towards Yosuke. Another gust of wind came out, but this was a gentle breeze. It surrounded Yosuke, filling him with energy, making a good bit of the soreness he was feeling disappear, and he felt a lot lighter on his feet all of a sudden.

Junpei and Trismegistus rose, but Yosuke’s assault was already on them. He didn’t have the energy for another big blast of wind, and if he tried any of his more intense physical attacks he’d wear himself out really quickly, so he just decided to go for a bunch of light blows. Takehaya Susano-o came at Trismegistus from all sides, bobbing and weaving like a professional boxer. Trismegistus tried to strike back, but Yosuke felt a heightened sense of awareness, making it easy to dodge. After a few whiffs, Junpei scowled, and Trismegistus held up its wings like shields, glowing with a purple light. From how Junpei seemed to be reacting less to the continued assault, Yosuke guessed that he had raised his defense.

Yosuke felt his heightened agility starting to drop and wanted to end the fight, so despite his lack of energy, he decided to go for a finishing blow. Takehaya Susano-o stepped back and the large shuriken around its chest started spinning rapidly.

“BRAVE BLADE!”

Yosuke’s Persona rammed Trismegistus, the shuriken plowing into its raised wings and knocking the bird-headed thing to the ground violently. Junpei similarly fell, his head slamming into the metal floor of the room. Yosuke walked over to his opponent and stood over him, panting heavily. Junpei looked up at him, his right eye shut as blood from a large gash in his forehead dripped down over it.

“That’s some hat trick” Junpei said.

“You ready to give up, Senpai?” One of Yosuke’s legs gave out, and he wound up kneeling just to keep from totally collapsing.

“Nah.” Junpei grinned and the blood pouring down his face reversed its course, flowing back into his head wound. Yosuke looked over to Trismegistus to see if it was casting a healing spell, but it was lying on the ground, unmoving. The gash on Junpei’s forehead sealed and Junpei opened his eye. For a second, Yosuke could swear that his iris was brown instead of grey, but it quickly returned to its normal color.

“What the hell was that!?” Yosuke tried to rise to both feet again, but his body wouldn’t move. Junpei, although laboriously, was able to get off the ground and stand over his opponent.

“That, my man, is the power of love.”

“Love?” Yosuke gave Junpei a look of disbelief. “I don’t get it.”

“Don’t worry about it, man.” Junpei gave Yosuke a thumbs up. “I’m sure you will someday.”

Yosuke felt a punch in his gut and all the wind left his lungs. As his vision blurred, he looked over to see Trismegistus’s fist plowed into Takehaya Susano-o’s stomach. The last thing Yosuke saw before he blacked out was his Persona fading away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't usually have trouble remembering how to spell things, but Trismegistus put me through the wringer. Eventually I just added it to my word processor's dictionary so spellcheck would catch it every time I fucked it up.
> 
> And don't get me started on Takehaya Susano-o. It's easy to spell, but also such a clunky name. Japanese mythology is not concise.
> 
> At least a chapter that's heavier on narration is easier to format in AO3.


	5. History Lesson, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke has his first day of Secret Agent Training.

When Yosuke woke up, he was in an infirmary. According to Labrys, he had been asleep for 20 hours straight. Physically, his fight with Junpei hadn’t damaged him too badly. Mitsuru had kept the Dark Zone on after the battle and used her healing magic to patch up his freshly-kicked ass. Still, Dia spells and their ilk could only do so much, and seeing how Yosuke had gone all out in using his Persona after being out of practice for five years, he needed a lot of time to rest. Labrys had hooked him up to an IV and tended to the few lingering injuries he had while he’d been out, and after getting to eat his first real meal since he’d left the hotel the previous day, he was rushed to a briefing room for “Secret Agent 101”.

“…so if the police start asking you questions, you do not answer.” 

Yosuke was fighting very hard to stay awake. Ken had been lecturing him for hours. At first he wasn’t sure just how intense a class taught by an 18-year-old could be, but in spite of his youth, Ken Amada proved to have the kind of stodginess that grizzled old college professors could only dream of.

“Remember, you are a member of an elite group that knows things they don’t. You are not obligated to give them any information.” Ken leaned over the table where Yosuke was sitting and tapped the pointer rod he’d been swinging around the whole time against a folder full of police dossiers he had given Yosuke. “Not unless it’s one of our trusted contacts.”

“Like Akihiko or that Kawasaki guy.”

“That’s ‘Kurosawa’” Ken said. “Please try to get his name right. We’ve had a good relationship with him for a very long time and it would be extremely embarrassing if one of our agents couldn’t even address him properly.”

“Got it.” Yosuke looked at the file. “I’ll try to remember all these guys’ names.”

“Excellent.” Ken stood up straight and looked at Yosuke sternly. “In fact, that’s your homework. I want you to memorize the profiles of every single one of our trusted police contacts before our next class in two days.”

“I thought my homework was to make a chart of every kind of Shadow and their weaknesses.”

“Well, now you have two assignments.”

“Great.” Yosuke pinched his forehead. “Trying to keep all those different kinds of Mayas straight is already a headache. Now I gotta know a bunch of details about all these people too?”

“It’s important for us to retain a positive relationship with people in the police department. They’re the barrier between us and the higher-ranked officials in Public Security who want to see us shut down.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Yosuke groaned and opened the folder, flipping through the files. “By the way, I think you’re missing a couple people from this file.”

“What do you mean?”

“Chie and Dojima.” Yosuke looked up at Ken. “They’re not in here.”

“Who is Dojima?”

“Yu’s uncle.”

“Ah, yes. Ryotaro Dojima.” Ken looked at Yosuke with great interest. “I thought his arrest of Tohru Adachi was just a smokescreen for your activities. Was it not?”

“Yeah, but there’s more to it than that.” Yosuke scratched his head. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think he really knows that much about Personas and Shadows, but he does know that there’s a bunch of crazy stuff out there he doesn’t understand and trusts people who’ve experienced it to deal with it.”

“I see.” Ken pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Admittedly, that does sound like the kind of person we could get along with, but most of our contacts have some kind of influence. We need people who can help us cut through red tape.”

“I think Dojima-San knows a lot of people all over the country.”

“Hm…” Ken stared off to the side. “We’d have to vet him thoroughly, but he sounds like he could be someone good to know. I’ll mention it to Mitsuru-San.”

“Awesome!” Yosuke leaned back in his chair, pleased with himself. “What do you say we count me getting you two new police contacts as extra credit?”

“There’s no extra credit in this class.” Ken was unamused. “No grades either. You either pass or you don’t become an agent. Besides, you only got us one new contact.”

“What?” Yosuke sat up straight. “What about Chie?”

“Chie-San is still just a beat cop. She doesn’t have the standing in the police to be of any help to us. There’s no point in working with her at this time.”

“What’re you talking about!?” Yosuke rose from his chair angrily. “She already knows all about you guys! Of course she’d be a good contact!”

“She has very little experience, no influence, and no arrest record to speak of. And the only connection she has with any pull in the police is Akihiko-San, who’s already our ally.”

“Are you serious right now!?” Yosuke rose on his tip-toes to get closer to Ken’s eye level. “She’s a Persona user! She was on the Investigation Team!”

“That means very little to us. We have discovered quite a few Persona users in the past five years. They aren’t Shadow Operatives because they weren’t up to our standards. It takes more than a Persona to be useful.” Ken’s sighed. “If Chie-San wanted to join the Shadow Operatives, I’m sure she would be a fine field agent. But as a police contact, she’s lacking. We need people on our side who can get specific tasks done, and she cannot do that at this time.”

“You better hope I don’t tell her you said that.” Yosuke grinned at Ken. “Now that you’re taller than her, she’d have no problem kicking your ass.”

“You are not to tell anybody outside of our agency what goes on here!” Ken struck the table with his pointer. “Not even your fellow Investigation Team members!”

“Whoa, relax dude!” Yosuke leaned back and held up his hands. “It was a joke!”

“You think compromising our operation is a joke!? The things we do here are a matter of global security! Even if you think you can trust your friends, every unnecessary detail leaked out into the world increases the risk the rest of us face!” Ken leaned over the table, his face inches away from Yosuke’s.

“Ok, I get it!” Yosuke dropped back down into his chair. “Can we just drop the lecture and get back to the other lecture already!?”

* * *

The lesson concluded an hour later. Once it was done, Yosuke found Labrys and Koromaru waiting outside the briefing room.

“So, how was the first day of school?” Labrys sported a big grin.

Yosuke did not answer with words. Just a groan.

“Aw, what’s wrong?” Labrys gave an exaggerated pout. “Did the other kids make fun of ya?”

“Can you show me to where I’ll be sleeping?” Yosuke took a deep breath. “My head feels like it’s gonna explode.”

Koromaru barked and started to trot down the hallway. After he got about ten feet away, he stopped and looked back at Yosuke expectantly. Yosuke started to follow him, and Koromaru began to walk again. Labrys followed behind them.

“Y’know Yosuke-Kun, if ya got some kinda problem, it’s ok to talk to me about it. That’s why I’m here.”

Yosuke said nothing.

“C’mon, did somethin’ happen in class? Why doncha tell Miss Student Council President all about it?”

“I’m not in the mood for this, Labrys.”

“It’s Ken-Kun, ain’t it?” Labrys put her hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. “Ya gotta forgive him for the stick up his butt. He’s tryin’ to prove to everybody that he ain’t a little kid anymore, so he’s been all extra-serious lately.”

Koromaru stopped in front of a door and barked.

“It’s not Ken.” Yosuke pushed down on the door handle and walked into his room, although with how much weight he put into the action it was more like he was falling through the doorway.

The room wasn’t much bigger than a college dorm room. Most of the room was taken up by a twin bed and a desk with the narrowest strip of floor to walk on between then. The desk had a chair and a lamp, and the room had a closet filled with a bunch of identical outfits on hangers: Simple white tee shirts and black sweatpants. The only real upside Yosuke could see was that the room had its own bathroom. And not a dinky little half-bath, a real bathroom with his own shower.

Yosuke meandered over to the bed and flopped facedown on the mattress. Labrys and Koromaru followed him into the room. Labrys closed the door behind her and sat down in the desk chair.

“So, ya ready to talk yet?”

“Nope.” Yosuke’s voice was muffled by the bed. “I think I just wanna die.”

“Ya don’t mean that!”

“Not permanently.” Yosuke turned onto his side, facing Labrys. His arm dangled over the side of the bed and Koromaru walked over to him and started nuzzling his hand. “Just for a little bit. Until the headache from this information overload goes away.”

“Oy.” Labrys shook her head and chuckled. “Maybe ya should just get some sleep, Yosuke-Kun.”

“I don’t think sleep is gonna cut it.” Yosuke started scratching Koromaru’s head. “You guys probably have tech that can bring the dead back to life, right? Think you could just kill me for an hour so I could get some rest?”

“Yeesh, class really did a number of ya, huh?” Labrys hunched over in the chair. “Was Ken-Kun really that bad?”

“Like I said, it’s not Ken.” Yosuke sat and up picked up Koromaru, letting the dog rest on his lap. He slowly started stroking the shiba's back. “I can take getting chewed out by him and getting beat up by Junpei-Senpai. But this orientation is a lot more intense than I thought it’d be.”

“Is that it?” Labrys gave Yosuke an annoyed look. “Mitsuru-San and I warned ya how tough this was. We gave ya plenty of chances to back out.”

“Hey, I’m not running away or anything. And I expected this to be tough, but…” Yosuke groaned and started petting Koromaru a little too hard. The dog jumped out of his lap and walked to the door. “I can’t explain it, but something just feels off about this.”

“Off how?” Labrys got up and opened the door, letting Koromaru out of the room.

“I feel like this is going too fast.” Yosuke laid down on his back, staring at the ceiling. “I mean, day one was a no-holds-barred knock-down-drag-out Persona fight! And then right after I get out of intensive care, I gotta go to a six-hour lecture! I know Mitsuru-San said this was gonna be Hell, but couldn’t I have been eased into it a little!?”

“Yeah, I guess it is kinda nuts, gettin’ tossed into the deep end like that.” Labrys closed the door and stood at the foot of Yosuke’s bed. “But you’ll get used to it eventually.”

“Yeah?” Yosuke craned his neck up, looking at Labrys. “Did you?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t have t’go through any of this stuff.”

“Oh. Makes sense.” Yosuke let his head hit the pillow. “I mean, you were built to fight Shadows. Of course they wouldn’t give you a bunch of tests like this.”

“It ain’t that. We didn’t come up with the orientation until after I joined. It’s chewed up and spit out a lotta people.”

“Yeah? How many people have actually made it all the way through?”

“So far? Zero.” Labrys hung her head low. “They always leave before the month is up.”

“Seriously!?” Yosuke sat up. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! If nobody else has ever made it all the way through, what chance do I have!?”

“I think the chances are great!” Labrys looked up and Yosuke and gave him two thumbs up. “You’re the first experienced Persona user we’ve ever put through this! You’re made of tougher stuff than the rest of them!”

“I don’t get it.” Yosuke started scratching his head. “Aren’t the Shadow Operatives hurting for people? Why would you guys make it so hard for anybody else to join? Wouldn’t you want as many Persona users on your side as possible?”

“We do important work around here.” Labrys’s tone was stern, but her eyes were full of uncertainty. “There ain’t any room for weak links.”

“That doesn’t sound like you, Labrys.” Yosuke put down his arm. “But it sure sounds like something Mitsuru-San would say.”

“Yeah?” Labrys leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “So what?”

“So I think there’s something you’re not telling me.” Yosuke swung his feet over the edge of the bed. “Why is the orientation so difficult?”

“So only the best of the best will become Shadow Operatives.”

“And why’s that so important?” Yosuke stood up. “All the original Shadow Operatives were just a bunch of friends in high school, like me and my friends, right? What happened to make that not good enough anymore?”

“That’s…” Labrys turned away from Yosuke. “Look, you’re right, ok? Somethin’ happened. And I don’t wanna keep it from ya, but I ain’t s’posed to tell ya about it ’til after the orientation’s over.”

“Why can't you tell me now?”

“It’s related to an ongoin’ operation.”

“What operation? All of your members are here, right? Well, everyone except Aigis-San, who’s looking for-” Yosuke knit his brow. “It’s him, isn’t it? It has something to do with Sho Minazuki.”

Labrys looked back at Yosuke and nodded.

“That guy’s bad news. And since you’ve been chasing him for five years, I’m guessing he’s only gotten worse.”

“Yeah.”

“So you made the orientation tough because you didn’t want to put any rookie agents in danger if you all had to go after him.”

“No.”

“Then what is it!?”

“It’s classified.” Labrys looked away from Yosuke again.

“Labrys, c’mon!” Yosuke took a step towards her. “What’s going o-“

“Are ya ok, Yosuke-Kun?”

“Huh?”

“Are ya ok? Do ya need painkillers for any lingerin’ injuries or somethin’ for a headache?”

“No, but-“

“My job is to make sure ya don’t overwork yourself. Since ya seem fine, I’ll be takin’ my leave now.”

Labrys left the room without another word.

* * *

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!”

Yosuke’s arms were burning. He was only bench-pressing 20 pounds, but he wasn’t used to using his muscles like this, and Junpei’d had him going for a while now. Junpei hovered over Yosuke, his face looking like it was upside-down as he spotted Yosuke during his training. Yosuke lowered the barbell, holding it just a couple inches above his chest.

“Junpei-Senpai… How many of these am I doing again?”

“No set number! You’re pumping to failure! Come on, rookie!”

“I don’t think I can do much more!”

“Then just gimme five! Five more and you can take a break! Let’s go!”

“Alright.” Yosuke slowly pushed the barbell upwards. “One…”

“Alright! Four more!”

“Two…” Yosuke’s arms were shaking violently.

“Almost there, rookie! Keep it up!”

“Thr-“ Yosuke groaned. The barbell wasn’t going up. “I don’t think I can do more!”

“I believe in you!”

“Junpei-Senpai, seriously! I think I’m about to lose my grip!”

“Okay, okay!” Junpei grabbed the barbell and pulled it away from Yosuke, putting it on the rack. He picked up Yosuke’s water bottle from the ground and handed it to him. “Good effort, rookie. Let’s take a five minute break.”

“Thanks.” Yosuke chugged the entire body in one go. He was pretty sure he’d sweated more fluids than the bottle held, so he got up and walked over to a nearby wall dispenser to refill it.

“How are you feelin’?” Junpei asked.

“I’m alright.” Yosuke watched the water slowly pour into the bottle. “I’m probably gonna be sore all over later, but right now I got those exercise endorphins going on.”

“Yeah, probably.” Junpei laughed. “Don’t worry too much about the soreness. We’ve got a schedule worked out so your body’s never too worn out. You’ll switch between me and Ken every day, and on days with me we’ll cycle through arm days, leg days, and Persona days.”

“Does that mean we’re gonna have another big fight in four days?”

“Nah, you won’t have another fight like that ’til your final exam. We’ve got some other training exercises lined up for that.”

“Like what?” Yosuke finished refilling his bottle and started drinking from it again.

“Y’know, pretty standard stuff.” Junpei started counting off exercises on his fingers. “Obstacle courses, target practice, endurance training. We can even sic some Shadows on you for a practical test, but we won’t do that for at least two weeks.”

“Good.” Yosuke sat down on a bench and grabbed a towel, trying to dry off his head. “I don’t think I’m up for that yet.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about it for a little while.” Junpei sat down next to Yosuke. “So, how’s the rest of orientation going? Ken riding you hard enough?”

“That’s putting it mildly.” Yosuke rolled his eyes. “Isn’t he 18? How is he teaching this class already?”

“He rushed through school.” Junpei snickered and shook his head. “After we met you guys, Ken decided that he was gonna forget Shadow Ops stuff for a while and focus on being a kid. That only lasted for a year.”

“What happened?”

“That kid just can’t help acting like an old man.” Junpei laughed again. “He started taking advanced classes so he could skip grades in high school! By the time he was 17, he was already taking college courses!”

“So he’s already graduated college!?”

“Nah, he’s like, I dunno, halfway done or something.” Junpei shrugged. “He takes all his courses online now.”

“Shadow Ops AND college?” Yosuke chuckled. “He and Naoto should get together and teach a seminar.”

“Oh yeah? Nao-Chan skipped through school too?”

“Just one year, but she did it while still doing a lot of detective work. She did it so she and Yu could open their own agency at the same time.”

“Wow.” Junpei whistled. “Guess that’s the power of love for you.”

“Man, what’s with you and the ‘power of love’?”

“Whaddya mean?”

“You mentioned it when we fought the other day. Does it have something to do with how you heal while you fight?”

“Yeah.” Junpei stretched out his arms. “I’ll tell you the story behind it some other time.”

“Is that another thing I’m not allowed to know until my orientation’s over?”

“What?” Junpei looked at Yosuke in confusion. “No, it’s just kind of a heavy story and I’m not in the mood to tell it. What are you talkin’ about?”

“Labrys got all weird last night.” Yosuke leaned back against the wall. “She told me orientation’s so brutal because of Sho Minazuki, but didn’t tell me why.”

“Oh yeah, that.” Junpei yawned. “Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“But you’re not gonna tell me what it’s about either, are you?”

“Nope.” Junpei bopped Yosuke on the arm. “Sorry dude, but I’ve got a hush order. And as much as I like you, I like not being executed by Mitsuru-Senpai more.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Yosuke took another swig of water. “I’m just going nuts trying to figure out what it is. What does Sho Minazuki have to do with recruiting new operatives? Are you guys trying to make sure I’m not under his control or something?”

“Nah.” Junpei cracked his knuckles. “Far as we can tell, he doesn’t have that power anymore.”

“So what is it then?”

“Can’t tell you, rookie.”

“Did he cause those mental shutdowns in Tokyo? Are you looking for people who are strong enough to resist that?”

“Can’t tell you.”

“Does he have something to do with why the sky turned red on Christmas?”

“Alright, back to work.” Junpei stood up and patted Yosuke on the back. “Come on, there’s a rowing machine with your name on it.”

“Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll stop asking questions.” Yosuke got up and followed Junpei to the rowing machine. “It’s just driving me nuts, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it.” Junpei set up twenty pounds on the rowing machine. He stared at it in thought for a second, then notched it up to thirty. “I hate being kept in the dark too. I mean, I know I’m not the smartest guy around or anything, but I figure I still deserve a chance to be confused.”

“Preaching to the choir, Senpai.” Yosuke sat down and started pulling on the machine’s handles, lifting the weights. “It’s just such a weirdly specific thing that I can’t get it out of my head, you know? I'm thinking stuff like, ‘what, did they try to recruit Minazuki as a Shadow Operative?’”

Junpei looked away from Yosuke and started whistling. Yosuke let go of the rowing machine and there was a loud crashing sound as the weights dropped from mid-air.

“ARE YOU SHITTING ME!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote more today, but this chapter was starting getting really long. And I kept thinking of more and more things to put in here, and I really wanted to get a new chapter up today, so I decided to split things up.


	6. History Lesson, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke learns about Sho Minazuki's tenure as a Shadow Operative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this is another two updates in less than 24 hours situation, so if you think you missed a part, you probably did.

“So, you’ve learned something you shouldn’t have.”

At the end of the training session, Junpei’s phone had started ringing. It was a call from Kikuno, telling him to bring Yosuke to the base’s main office. Kikuno sat at a large desk, holding up a tablet from which Mitsuru was video-conferencing. Labrys was also in the room.

“Look, Mitsuru-Senpai, just listen to me for a second” Junpei pleaded. “I know this whole thing seems like my fault, but I didn’t actually TELL him anything!”

“I don’t blame you for this, Iori. You can go.”

“Awesome!” Junpei sprinted out of the office and waved back to Yosuke. “Good luck, rookie!”

“As for you, Hanamura…” A slight smile formed on Mitsuru’s face, but there was the tiniest tinge of contempt mixed in with it. “It seems you’re too smart for your own good. I suppose that’s what we get for bringing in a member of the Investigation Team.”

“So what happens now?” Yosuke asked.

“There’s no point in hiding the details of the Minazuki case anymore, so now you get answers.” Mitsuru was clearly displeased to be saying that. “What do you want to know?”

“I guess I’ll start with the obvious.” Yosuke glared at the tablet. “You guys tried to make Sho Minazuki a Shadow Operative!? What the hell were you thinking!?”

“We were thinking he could be reformed.” Mitsuru’s voice was heavy. “We managed to locate him six months after the Grand Prix incident. We knew what a capable fighter he was, and it seemed that he had begun to understand the power of bonds, so we thought we could turn him from an enemy to an ally.”

“And he went along with it?”

“Not at first. But Akihiko managed to get through to him. He wanted a place to belong, and we offered it to him. He seemed to enjoy sparring matches and Shadow combat exercises in the Dark Room, so we thought he could be made to come around.”

“But he didn’t.”

“No.” Mitsuru scowled. “He had a problem with authority. As you may recall, when you met him, Sho Minazuki had another personality inside of him, from which he inherited his Persona. That other personality was the only person he ever listened to, and even then it was always in pursuit of his own goals.”

“But that other guy’s gone now, isn’t he?”

“Yes. And Sho did not adjust well to the absence of his other half. He would repeatedly argue with my commands, saying how the entity known as Minazuki wouldn’t force him to do certain things. He was disrespectful and insubordinate.” Mitsuru pinched the bridge of her nose. “In retrospect, those moments were all omens. I dismissed it as him needing time to adjust, but should have seen his betrayal coming.”

“What did he do?”

“He tried to cut me open” Labrys said. Yosuke jumped in his seat a little. He had completely forgotten that Labrys was with them. She hadn’t said anything the entire time he'd been in the office. “He wanted my Plume of Dusk.”

“Your what?”

“A Plume of Dusk is an object that carries properties similar to Shadows” Mitsuru said. “It is an exotic source of power, an artifact of the Shadow world that remains in our world, and allows all of our technology to function in instances like the Dark Hour.”

“My sis and I are both powered by them” Labrys said. “They’re what make us who we are.”

“I thought you had a computer brain” Yosuke said.

“We do, but we’re more than that. Our Plumes of Dusk make us more'n the stuff we’re made out of. It’s like your human soul, that intangible thing that makes ya more than just a hunk of meat controlled by electrical impulses.” Labrys held her hand up to her throat. “‘Cept for us, it’s tangible.”

“Sho Minazuki was implanted with a Plume of Dusk as part of a cruel experiment as a child. It is what gave birth to the Minazuki entity within himself, and although that being is now gone, it has given Sho control over Minazuki’s Persona.” Mitsuru’s expression was grim. “Sho became convinced that he could reawaken Minazuki if he obtained another Plume of Dusk, and tried to tear Labrys’s out of her.”

“He ambushed me while I was sleepin’.” Labrys’s face was pained. “Caught me totally off guard. His swords were already on my neck, and I became paralyzed with fear. All I could think about was how, if I died, I was failin’ all of ‘em.”

“Failing who?” Yosuke stared at Labrys. “The other Shadow Operatives?”

“My sisters.” Labrys frowned. “I’m a 5th-generation model of the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons. The last of the 5th generation. The others are all gone now. They live on in me, so if I die, they all die.”

“How does that work? Did you download all their memories into your brain?”

“Yeah. And more important, their souls are in me too. Or what remains of ‘em, anyway.” Labrys’s hand remained on her throat. “Whenever they were destroyed, their Plumes of Dusk would be added to mine. It makes my own Plume really strong. It’s why my Shadow can summon her own Persona. Asterius is the rage and pain of all my sisters who were cut down in their prime, given form when my dark side takes over.”

“It is because of this that Sho targeted Labrys” Mitsuru said. “He could have extracted a Plume of Heart from my motorcycle or our helicopter or any of our evokers, but he picked the most potent Plume available, even if it was a riskier gambit.”

“So what happened?” Yosuke asked. “Did you fight him off?”

“No,” Labrys said, “I was too scared.”

“So did Aigis-San or another Shadow Operative save you?”

“No.”

* * *

_One of the perks of being a machine was that you always had a sense of when you were dreaming. Labrys didn’t fully understand how it worked. She knew that her Plume of Dusk made her mechanical brain function like a human one, producing emotions, independent thought, and imagination. But she was still a machine, and so she could flip lucid dreaming on and off like a switch. Granted, it took a bit of willpower to do, and sometimes when a nightmare was really bad she couldn’t do it at all, but at least she had the option._

_ Not that she wanted to right now. Labrys was having a wonderful dream where she was walking on a beach with 024, Snowy, and Koromaru. The two dogs were very excited to meet each other, and although she knew none of it was real, she couldn’t help but share her joy with her long-dead sister. _

_ The joy quickly passed. There was a sudden feeling of dread, and the sky turned black. The two dogs disappeared into the darkness, and 024 looked to Labrys with a grave look in her eyes. _

_ “You need to wake up or you’ll die.” _

_ When Labrys’s eyes opened, she found herself faced with the manic grin of Sho Minazuki. _

_ “Don’t move” he said. “And don’t scream. Just sit there lookin’ pretty unless you’re told otherwise like the good little puppet you are.” _

_ “Sho-Kun? What are you-“ As Labrys’s sensors came online, she realized he had his katanas pressed against her throat, ready to cut off her head at a moment’s notice. _

_“Shut up!” Sho was so close a bit of spittle flew out of his mouth and onto Labrys’s face. “I need to concentrate! I don’t wanna slip up and break your Plume!”_

_ “My Plume?” If Labrys had a biological heart, it would be racing right now. She didn’t understand what was going on, but this was not a good position to be in. “Whaddya want with my Plume!?” _

_ “Mine doesn’t work right anymore.” Sho’s voice was manic and anguished. Although he had his usual malicious sneer, Labrys could see desperation in his eyes. “I’ve tried to keep living without Minazuki, but I need him back! And if my Plume’s too worn out to hold him, then maybe yours can! After all, it’s holdin’ the souls of all those piles of scrap you played demolition derby with!” Sho giggled maniacally. “So just hold still and lemme cut off your head! I’ll make it quick and clean!” _

_ “I’m not lettin’ ya take my Plume, ya lunatic!” _

_ “Hey, hey, it’s ok, don’t even worry about it…” Sho started making shushing sounds as if he was trying to calm a horse. “You’re gonna live on in that Plume, just like all the other hunks of junk before you. And then, once that Plume is in me, you’ll be part of me, and you’ll finally be a real human being, just like you always wanted!” Sho’s grin grew even larger and creepier. “It’s a win-win situation, so just stay still and it’ll all be over before you know it!” _

_ Labrys was panicking. As a mechanical maiden, she was far stronger than Sho, and outside of a Dark Zone he’d normally have no hope of beating her in a fight. But he already had his weapons against her most vulnerable spot, and if she made one wrong move, those blades would be cleaving her Plume of Dusk apart, ending everything she was. Even then, the situation shouldn’t have been as dire as it was. Labrys had a supercomputer for a brain. She was great at taking in new information and devising solutions to practical problems. It was all physics. Labrys had to make just the right action at just the right speed from just the right angle before Sho could react that would move his swords away from her throat and take away his sole advantage. And if she were an emotionless machine, that would be so simple. _

_ But she wasn’t. She was a person. And the same mix of advanced computer science and Shadow-based Plume of Dusk pseudoscience that made her a complete being who could laugh and dream and speak in a Kansai accent from the moment of her activation made her a creature who could worry and feel terror and doubt herself. And in that moment, Labrys was experiencing all of those in spades. Could she make that robotic escape perfectly, without tipping off Sho to what she was doing with her human expressions? If she was too fast or too slow, her Plume could be fractured, and that would be it. Gone would be the thirty sisters who died to make her what she was. Gone would be the will of the human mother who passed on her personality so Labrys could live as a real person. And Labrys herself would be gone, which would be pretty bad, because the fact was, she liked being alive. And so did a lot of other people. If she died, her living sister would be devastated, as well as the rest of her comrades in the Shadow Operatives, not to mention her friends in Inaba. That was nearly 50 people who could suffer with a quick flick of a sword. _

_ The pressure was too much. The stakes were too high. Labrys couldn’t bring herself to move. But if she didn’t, she’d die. And if she did, she would almost certainly die. But she couldn’t think of a way to minimize the risk. _

_ This was the end. _

_ “You stupid punk.” _

_ Labrys’s mouth moved, and the voice that came out was undeniably hers, but distorted. She didn’t will herself to do that. She wasn’t willing herself to grin right now. And whatever this yellow filter clouding her vision was, she didn’t activate it. And then she realized that she couldn’t move her body, not even if she wanted to. _

_ For the first time in six months, Shadow Labrys had awoken from her slumber. _

_ “You!” In addition to the mania and desperation, a hint of fear appeared on Sho’s face. “I remember you! You’re the one from the tower!” _

_ “That’s right, brat.” Shadow Labrys chuckled. “Do ya really think this is gonna work? Do ya even know what the hell you’re doin’? Even if ya did chop my block off and get my Plume, do ya even know how to put it inside of ya?” _

_ “I have money! Lots of money! I’ll pay a surgeon to do it!” _

_ “Yeah, that’ll go well. ‘Hey there Doc, I want ya t’put this weird glowin’ thing in my chest! That wouldn’t get your license revoked, right!?’” _

_ “I don’t need a hospital. There’s all kinds of people who can-“ _

_ “Give ya tetanus in their back-alley operatin' rooms? ‘Cuz that’s the only thing ya’d get. Puttin’ my Plume of Dusk in your body ain’t gonna bring Minazuki back, but it’ll probably kill ya!” Shadow Labrys widened her eyes, pretending to have an epiphany. “Oh wait, I get it! That’s the plan, ain’t it!? Do somethin’ dumb that’ll get ya killed, and you’ll finally be reunited with Minazuki in Hell!” _

_ “Shut up so I can concentrate!” _

_ “Poor little Sho, always gettin’ left behind. Left behind by the mad scientist daddy who never loved him. Left behind by the big bad god who promised him the world. Even left behind by his own soulmate, who couldn’t stand to pretend likin’ him for one more second! They all died so they didn't have to be near you!” _

_ “That’s not true! That’s not what happened!” _

_ “And now the closest thing ya got in the world to a friend is the silver-haired pretty boy that ya have a murder-boner for! Tell me somethin’, are ya sure ya can still summon your Persona? ‘Cuz it seems t’me like ya got a lot of repressed emotions!” _

_ “That’s enough out of you, you heap of scrap!” Sho pressed into Labrys’s neck with his swords, cutting into the top layer of artificial skin. “I’ve got my cut lined up now! All that’s left to do is kill you!” _

_ “Lemme ask ya somethin’, boy genius.” Shadow Labrys stared Sho straight in the eyes and saw his resolve falter. “Do ya remember the first time we met? Do ya remember how I said I was gonna tear ya apart?” _

_ “Cut the bullshit! I can kill you with a single stroke, and you can’t even summon your Persona in this world!” _

_ “Maybe, but I got one advantage ya don’t.” _

_ “Oh yeah?” _

_ “Yeah.” While Sho was focused on her yellow eyes, Shadow Labrys pointed her forearm towards his stomach and shot out her hand, driving a chain knuckle right into his gut. Sho and his swords went flying across the room, and Shadow Labrys stepped out of her sleep chamber. “I’m a robot, ya stupid piece of shit.” _

_ “So what!?” Sho rose to his feet, a bit of blood trickling out of his mouth. “I can still tear apart a puppet like you!” _

_ Sho charged at Shadow Labrys, swinging one of his katanas at her neck. Shadow Labrys calmly raised her arm and caught the sword in her steel hands effortlessly. The servos in her hand starring whirring loudly, and after a few seconds, she snapped off the sword's blade. _

_ “You’re outta your league, kiddo.” _

_ Shadow Labrys grabbed Sho by the neck and picked him up. But instead of squeezing, she threw him across the room. Sho slammed into the wall and hit the floor. Sho was having trouble getting up, and tried to crawl away, but Shadow Labrys grabbed his right hand. _

_ “Lemme give ya a hand there.” Shadow Labrys pulled Sho upwards, letting his arm support the entire weight of his dangling body. “No wait, I got a better idea! I’ll take one instead!” _

_ Shadow Labrys reached out with her free hand to grab Sho’s wrist, intending to tear the broken appendage away from his arm. But just before she could make contact, her arm locked up. _

_ **“Let him go!”** _

_ “God damn it.” Shadow Labrys scowled. “Let ME go, ya idiot! I’m doin’ this for us!” _

_**“Ya don’t gotta do this!”** From inside, Labrys was fighting to regain control.  _

_ “What the…” Sho managed to stabilize himself on his knees. “Who are you talking to, you crazy puppet!?” _

_ “Not now, little boy.” Shadow Labrys squeezed Sho's hand in her mechanical grip, breaking the bones inside. “Grown ups are talkin’.” _

_ Sho howled in agony and tried to pull free of Shadow Labrys’s grip, but it wasn’t working. Not only could he not escape, but every tiny shift just exacerbated the pain. _

_ **“Stop hurtin' him! I don’t want this!”** _

_ “Just shut up and lemme do this!” Shadow Labrys yelled. _

_ **“Ya already caught him! He can’t do anythin' to us now! Just let Mitsuru-San and the others decide what to do with him!”** _

_ “Are ya kiddin’ me!? Those wimps’ll let him off with a slap on the wrist!” _

_ **“He’s not right in the head! He needs help!”** _

_ “Ya know what he was plannin’! We gave him a chance and this is how things wound up!” _

_**“That doesn’t mean you have to stoop to his level!”** _

_ “Just keep runnin’ your mouth, ya bimbo! I’m gonna squash this brat like the bug he is!” _

_ There was a crack, a clank, and the sound of liquid dripping. Shadow Labrys felt the weight on her arm drop considerably and heard the scurrying of footsteps and looked to her hand. Sho was gone, but his hand was still in her grasp, little drops of blood coming out of the stump where it had previously been attached to Sho’s arm. Shadow Labrys looked down and saw Sho’s sword lying on the ground, the blade covered in blood. She looked to the door and saw him running down the hall, leaving a trail of blood behind him. _

_ “Oh no ya don’t!” Shadow Labrys started running after Sho. “Playtime’s only gettin’ started, junior!” _

_ **“THAT’S IT!”** _

_ Labrys’s entire body locked up. _

_“What’re ya doin’, ya moron!? He’s gettin’ away!”_

_**“Ya’ve done enough!”** Labrys screamed. **“I want my body back and I want it NOW!”** _

_ “Whatever.” Shadow Labrys sighed. “I did my job. Saved our skin.” Shadow Labrys raised her hand and ran her fingers over the tears in her neck. “Well, most of it.” _

_ When her digits moved again, it wasn’t Shadow Labrys in control. Labrys was piloting her own body again, and immediately ran into her room and activated an alarm in the base. _

_**“What a racket”** Shadow Labrys said. **“Try and keep it down, will ya? I’m goin’ back t’sleep.”** _

* * *

“He cut off his own hand!?” Yosuke was on the edge of his seat as Labrys wrapped up her story. “That’s insane!”

“I disagree” Mitsuru said. “It may have been the only sane action he performed that entire evening.”

“How do you figure?”

“It was an untenable situation. If Sho didn’t escape, he would have either been torn apart by Shadow Labrys or locked up for life by the rest of us when Labrys regained control.”

“And you haven’t been able to catch him since? You haven’t even come close?”

“He’s always a couple steps ahead of us” Labrys said.” Ya’d think a bloodthirsty nut with bright red hair, one hand, and a giant scar on his face would be easy t’find, but he’s really good at runnin’ and hidin’.”

“Ok, but there’s still one thing I don’t get.”

“What’s that?”

“What the hell does this have to do with the orientation process!?”

“Loathe as I am to admit it,” Mitsuru said, “sometimes we make mistakes. Sho Minazuki was one such mistake. We thought we could reform him and he nearly killed one of our own. We realized after this that we needed a way to better vet potential Shadow Operatives.”

“Yeah, but you guys haven’t had a new member since, right?” Yosuke crossed his arms. “Don’t you think your process could use some tweaks?”

“I need to know that anybody I might be hiring is the best of the best. They need to be able to hold up under pressure. They need to show dedication to the cause. And they need to be strong. Not just of body or mind, but of character.” Mitsuru crossed her arms. “You never really know who somebody is until you’ve seen them pushed to the edge.”

“Guess I can’t argue with that.” Yosuke’s shoulders drooped. “Aw man, I’m really making myself look bad with all this complaining, aren’t I? You wanna see who I am pushed to the edge and so far I’ve just been a whiner.”

“Hardly.” Mitsuru smiled. “It’s perfectly normal to vent your frustrations in this kind of situation. You haven’t given up yet, and that’s what matters.”

“It’s true, Yosuke-Kun.” Labrys’s mood picked up. “We’ve had about twenty people try joinin’ us since we started this orientation thing. Half of ‘em quit in the first two days.”

“Really?” Yosuke couldn’t help but snicker. “I mean, yeah, this stuff is tough, but it’s not THAT tough.”

“And that is why we have faith in you as a candidate” Mitsuru said. "You've seen what the job entails and haven't fled yet. That alone proves you have some business being here."

“Thank you, Mitsuru-San.” Yosuke let out a sigh of relief. “It’s really nice to hear that."

“I’m glad you think so.” Mitsuru smirked. “Because we haven’t even begun to break you yet.”

“Oh. Uh…”

“I believe you have some homework to do for Amada, yes? You’d best get to it.”

The video call ended.

“Ya know how to get back to your room from here?” Labrys asked.

“Not really.”

“C’mon then.” Labrys held the door to the office open. “I’ll show ya back.”

Yosuke and Labrys bid farewell to Kikuno and headed down the hall. Labrys seemed to be in good spirits. Yosuke walked a few paces behind her, and she had a skip in her step which confounded him. At one point she ever started humming. After about ten minutes of navigating twisting, turning corridors, Yosuke finally spoke up.

“Hey, are you ok?”

“Yeah.” Labrys looked over her shoulder, her face perplexed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, uh… No reason, I guess.” Yosuke rubbed the back of his head. “It’s just, that story you told back there was kinda dark.”

“Ya ain’t wrong.” Labrys looked ahead. “I mean, I guess I was a li’l down while tellin’ it, but that was over four years ago. My Shadow ain’t taken control of me since, and I know it was a pretty extreme situation.”

“But it doesn’t bug you at all?”

“Why should it?” Labrys shrugged. “I know who I am. I’ve accepted all the parts of myself, good and bad. I’m sure if I ever saw Sho Minazuki again, he’d think of me as that crazy bitch robot who took his hand, but that ain’t me. I regained control. He just made his choice before it happened.”

“Huh.” Yosuke thought back to Labrys’s story. Come to think of it, the worst thing she did was break Sho’s hand, and while it wasn’t strictly necessary for self-defense, it’s not like it was totally undeserved either. “I guess you’re right. It’s not like you actually ripped off his hand. You stopped your Shadow self before things got that far.”

“Exactly!” Labrys stopped in front of the door to Yosuke’s room and stepped aside so he could go in. “Besides, the way I figure it, I got a lot to be happy for right now!”

“Yeah?” Yosuke opened the door. “Like what?”

“Well, you’re here now. It’s nice havin’ someone new to talk to.” Labrys gave Yosuke a big smile. “I really think you’re gonna pass your orientation with flyin’ colors, Yosuke-Kun.”

“Oh. That’s… Uh…” Yosuke’s face started to turn red. “I’m gonna get started on my homework now.”

“Ok! Good luck, Yosuke-Kun!” Labrys waved as Yosuke disappeared behind the door to his room. Once it shut, she walked away, very happy that the people who built her didn’t think to give her a blushing function.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's probably only one or two chapters left of this story, but it might take a bit longer to wrap it up. I wanna tie up some other fluffier one-shots I've been working on for a while. Plus I've gone a long time without writing the P5 cast at this point, so it's about time to get back to that. I'm not gonna leave this to hang though, I really enjoy writing this story and have a very good idea of how it progresses from here, so once I post whatever one-shot I decide to wrap up, I'm gonna get right back to this.


	7. Moving Target

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke's first final exam has him being observed by the eagle eye of Feather Pink.

The next few weeks were intense. Every day for Yosuke had his body pushed to the point of fainting or his head hurting from information overload. Junpei and Ken had very different instructional styles. Ken made it clear that at least as long as the orientation period lasted, he was NOT Yosuke’s friend, and would severely admonish him for the slightest error. Junpei WAS Yosuke’s friend, but he was like the kind of friend who would suddenly reach out and punch you in the nuts just to see if you’re paying attention. Between the yells of “pay attention, Hanamura” and the too-late faux-warning cries of “heads up, rookie”, Yosuke was feeling a bit of whiplash. But the worst experience was the day the two of them taught him together. In the last week of Yosuke’s orientation, Ken and Junpei came together for a day of combined test of mental and physical resilience:

Torture training.

Kikuno gave Yosuke a piece of information to keep secret at all costs, and Ken and Junpei were meant to try and get it out of him by any means necessary. They didn’t do anything that risked permanently injuring Yosuke. Yes, they hurt him. There were slaps, punches, some near-crushing, suffocation, even electrocution. There were also other kinds of torture like water drop torture, sensory deprivation, sensory overload, and exposure to extreme temperatures, but seeing how Yosuke saw movies where the bad guys did things like drill through their victims’ feet, he was just glad he didn't have to deal with something like that. And in the end, he managed to make it through the exercise, going the full 12 hours without revealing the secret he was meant to guard. Granted, the nature of the secret certainly helped. Yosuke had a feeling that if he leaked the fact that Mitsuru slept with a body pillow of the host of “Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities”, the punishment Mitsuru would subject him to would be far worse than the torture itself. As it turned out, instilling that fear in Yosuke was the point. After the exercise, Kikuno informed him that the secret was a lie constructed for exactly that purpose, as the training wouldn’t be effective if Yosuke wasn’t in the same emotional distress as he would be if tasked with guarding actually-crucial information. Still, he was glad to have a day off from all training the next day.

But the day off was more than a mercy given to him after the torture session. It was a time given for him to center himself and prepare for his final days of orientation. There were only three days left, each one with a different test. The first day would be a test of all the physical training he’d done with Junpei, the second day would test how well he’d internalized Ken’s lessons about being a secret agent, and the final test was a secret.

The next day came, and Labrys escorted Yosuke to the Dark Room. He had gotten used to the base and didn’t really need to be guided around the place anymore, but it was nice to have the moral support. When he reached the outside of the Dark Room, not only was Junpei there, but so was Mitsuru, appearing before Yosuke in the flesh for the first time in nearly a month.

“Congratulations, Hanamura.” Mitsuru gave Yosuke a proud smile. “You are the first cadet in the history of orientation to make it to final exams. Whatever happens from this point on, you should take pride in what you’ve already accomplished.”

“Thank you, Mitsuru-Sa-“

“That said…” Mitsuru assumed her usual stern demeanor. “Don’t get cocky. Everything we’ve put you through over the past four weeks has all been in preparation for this. If you don’t take these tests seriously, you WILL fail. And I would hate for a whole month of my peoples’ time and resources to have been wasted on a failure.”

“G-got it.”

“Chill, Mitsuru-Senpai. I’ve given this guy everything I have. He’s gonna ace this test.” Junpei lightly punched Yosuke on the arm. “C’mon rookie, ready to meet your evaluator?”

“What do you mean?” Yosuke asked. “Aren’t you giving me the test?”

“Nah.” Junpei looked over his shoulder at the door to the Dark Room. “In that room is a custom-built obstacle course that you’ll have to use your own physical abilities AND your Persona to get through. We’ve optimized it for your Persona’s wind powers. You’re gonna be evaluated not just on if you clear the course and how fast you do it, if you could’ve made better choices in the heat of the moment.”

“Since Junpei’s Persona specializes in fire skills, he isn’t the best judge of whether you would be using your wind abilities to their full effectiveness. Nor would I, or Ken, or any other Shadow Operative on active duty.” Mitsuru gave Yosuke her usual little half-smile. “As such, we’ve brought in an expert. She’s already waiting inside.”

“Alright.” Yosuke had a pretty good idea he knew who was waiting for him on the other side of the door. Once he entered the Dark Room, his suspicions were confirmed.

“Welcome to your final exams, Yosuke!” Standing in the center of the Dark Room was Yukari Takeba, just as Yosuke had expected. But her presence was the least-remarkable thing Yosuke could see. Junpei had set up a few obstacle courses during Yosuke’s training, but none were like this. There were platforms suspended from the ceilings, ludicrously high walls with seemingly no way of scaling them, axes swinging back and forth, and more. It was a far cry from the hurdles and ropes Yosuke had been practicing on so far. “Are you ready to become a Shadow Operative?”

“Bring it on, Yukari-San!” Yosuke flexed his arms. “I didn’t come this far just to fall on my face now!”

“That’s what I like to hear!” Yukari gave Yosuke a thumbs up. She reached down to her hip and unclipped a pair of black goggles with red lenses. “Take a look at these. These are official Shadow Operative goggles. They’re standard edition gear for field missions. In addition to protecting your eyes and looking cool, they come with a few nifty features, including zoom, the ability to take photos and videos, and thermal imaging.” Yukari put on the goggles. “Your goal in this test is to go through the obstacle course and take these goggles from me.”

“Well, that sounds simple, but I’m guessing it isn’t.”

“You guess right. Take a look at the starting point.” Yukari pointed to a spot on the floor about 50 feet behind Yosuke. He looked at a white circle on the floor with two yellow flags on the outside across from each other. “See those flags?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a checkpoint.” Yukari gestured to the rest of the obstacle course. Yosuke noticed a few more pairs of flags scattered around the room. “If you take a look around, you’ll notice five more of them. You need to pass through all five checkpoints on the way to get to me, so no shortcuts.”

“Alright, makes sense.” Yosuke looked around the course, making a mental note of where all the checkpoints were, then turned back to Yukari. “I’m allowed to use my Persona, right?”

“Yes, but with some conditions. You’re allowed to use your Persona to help you clear obstacles, but you can’t break any part of the course. It’s easy to use your Persona like a wrecking ball. What we want to see is if you can think of creative uses for it that don’t involve fighting.” Yukari lifted the goggles from her eyes for a second and winked at Yosuke. “Of course, that also means you’re not allowed to attack me either. You’ll have to steal the goggles without knocking me out.”

“Ok. Anything else I need to know?”

“Yeah.”

Yukari reached behind her back and pulled out a collapsed compound bow. She unfolded it and reached down to a quiver on her leg. Before Yosuke could even register that she was notching an arrow, it was already flying straight at his face. Yosuke didn’t get out of the way in time, and the arrow struck his forehead. It didn’t pierce his skull, but it did feel like he was getting punched in the head. Yosuke lost balance and teetered around on one foot, trying not to fall.

“You’d probably be able to take your time and figure out the obstacles, so I’m going to keep you on your toes by firing these arrows at you!” As Yosuke regained his balance, Yukari walked over to Yosuke and picked up the arrow from the ground in front of him. She held it in front of his face. The head was made of rubber and thick and rounded. “These are special practice arrows. They won’t kill you, but they do pack a wallop, so you’ll wanna keep moving. Oh, and once you clear the first checkpoint, if you fall to the floor you’ll have to start over from the beginning, but we won’t reset the timer. So I’d be really careful not to get hit if I were you.”

“Oh great, like this wasn’t hard enough.” Yosuke groaned. "So I can’t attack you but you can attack me? And if you hit me I’ll probably fall and have to redo everything?”

“Hey, nobody said this test would be fair. Though to make things not totally impossible for you, I won’t use my own Persona. Otherwise you’d have no chance at all.” Yukari walked back to the center of the room. “So, to recap. Checkpoints, use your Persona, dodge arrows, don’t touch the floor, get the goggles, no violence. You ready?”

“As much as I’ll ever be.”

“Alright!” Yukari threw her fist in the air. “Head to the starting point!”

As Yosuke made his way to the white circle, the floor began to rumble. The small section of floor Yukari was standing on was beginning to rise from the ground. It kept rising until she nearly reached the ceiling, looking down on the entire obstacle course. Yosuke reached the starting point and looked up at her.

“Alright! On your mark! Get set! GO!”

The was a buzzer sound as a Dark Zone was generated, turning the lights in the room green. Yosuke looked ahead of him and saw a long ramp leading upwards to the first checkpoint. It was made of square tiles that were about two feet long on each side, and the ramp itself was fifteen tiles long by two tiles wide. Alternating electrical currents seemed to be running through each of them, back and forth horizontally every second or so.

It was a simple challenge. Yosuke had played video games with traps like these a hundred times. He watched for a few seconds to figure out the timing, and the second one of the tiles in front of him stopped being electrified, he hopped onto it. Yosuke wasted no time, immediately bounding forward onto the next tile in front of him, landing on it just as it stopped giving off sparks. As soon as he landed, he moved forward again. Yosuke cleared the ramp quickly, bouncing forward like he was playing a highly-injurious game of hopscotch. He didn’t even have to shift his position horizontally, and in fifteen seconds, he had reached a platform ten feet off the ground and already cleared the first checkpoint. His victory was accompanied by a cheerful ding playing through the room’s speakers.

Yosuke turned to the left and saw a bunch of round posts sticking out of the ground. There were way too many to count, and they were dotted across a wide expanse leading up to the next checkpoint. Yosuke had seen enough of Chie’s kung fu movies to know he was supposed to jump across them, but they were moving up and down, and the tops of the posts went all the way into the floor. Yosuke was guessing that if a post he was standing on fully retracted into the floor, he’d have to start over.

“CLOCK’S TICKING!”

Yosuke looked up at Yukari just in time to see an arrow flying at him. He jumped forwards onto one of the posts to dodge it, struggling to find his balance on the small surface just barely large enough to hold one of his feet. The post Yosuke was on was moving down, so he quickly jumped to a post that was rising, this time having a bit more ease finding purchase on its surface. Yukari began firing a volley of arrows, and Yosuke jumped from post to post as quickly as he could, trying to keep his momentum going so he could just hop to the next post instead of trying to balance on them. The next platform was still at a higher elevation, so Yosuke’s goal was to land on posts that were rising, getting him ever closer to his target. Sometimes he moved forwards, sometimes he’d have to jump from side to side, but he was getting closer, all while just barely dodging the arrows looking to knock him to the ground.

At one point Yosuke zigged when he should have zagged, and Yukari found her mark. He got hit directly in the temple as he was jumping between posts, and the impact caused him to lose focus, his feet missing the next post entirely. Yosuke stumbled through the air, just cognizant of his situation to hug onto one of the posts, wrapping his arms and legs around it. He began shimmying upwards as the post descended, just climbing on top of it before it sunk into the floor. He jumped to another post that was rising, shimmying up its length as well, and found himself face to face with the platform he was aiming for. Yosuke reached out with his hands and grabbed the edge of the platform, pulling himself up and reaching the second checkpoint.

DING.

The next leg of the obstacle course was the swinging axes. There were about five of them swaying back and forth above a narrow balance beam like pendulums. Up close, Yosuke could see that they weren’t actually sharp at all, and would just knock him over. Still, seeing how Yosuke had to be at least 25 feet off the ground by now, that would be a nasty fall. The axes seemed to all swing back over the balance beam in unison, with about three seconds passing between each moment. There was definitely enough room between each of them to wait it out until Yosuke was prepared to venture past the next gap, but if he had to keep stopping it would give Yukari ample time to knock him off the beam, and he didn’t have anywhere to dodge to.

Yosuke watched the axes for a moment, thinking of a way to possibly get through them without giving Yukari a chance to hit him. He could try avoiding them altogether by hanging under the balance beam and pawing along it with his hands like monkey bars, but even if his grip could last long enough for that, he’d be moving at a really slow pace and be an easy target for Yukari. There just didn’t seem to be any human way possible to cross that balance beam without worrying about arrows.

Which meant that an inhuman solution was needed.

Yosuke took a few steps back to the edge of the platform and lowered himself to his hands and feet, like a runner about to start a race. He held one hand out in front of him and that familiar blue card appeared. He grasped it in his fingers, shattering it like glass.

“PERSONA!”

Takehaya Susano-o appeared, floating next to the platform. Yosuke willed him to float sideways, just out of reach of one of the axes as it moved away from the balance beam before reversing its course. Yosuke had his Persona create a small tornado, creating a vacuum effect that pulled the first axe towards it. The axe stayed suspended in the air, the funnel of wind maintained by Takehaya Susano-o keeping it away from the balance beam, and Yosuke took off into a sprint. As Yosuke ran across the balance beam, Takehaya Susano-o floated alongside him, using its vacuum to keep pulling the axes out of Yosuke’s way. In no time at all, he had crossed the beam and reached the third checkpoint.

DING.

This platform was larger than the others, extending fifteen feet past the checkpoint to a sheer steel wall with no handholds. Yosuke calmly walked towards it, having plenty of room to dodge Yukari’s arrows, not that she was actually firing at him at the moment. When he reached the wall, he heard a shuttering sound and turned around to see the path he had just come from had been blocked off by an identical wall. If Yosuke were in a video game, he could just wall jump, but that wasn’t something he could do in the real world. It seemed the only way up was to use his Persona, so Yosuke had Takehaya Susano-o grab his arms and float him upwards between the two walls.

Takehaya Susano-o moved noticeably slower when carrying Yosuke. Slow enough for Yukari to take aim and launch an arrow right into Yosuke’s gut. Yosuke got the wind knocked out of him, which made him lose his focus and caused his Persona to disappear. Yosuke fell back to the platform at the bottom of the walls, but it was only a few feet, so it didn’t hurt too badly. As he slowly got up, he could only see one way to get up these walls fast enough that Yukari couldn’t hit him: He’d have to have Takehaya Susano-o blast him up with wind magic. The only problem was, a blast of wind powerful enough to jettison him all the way up past the walls would be too powerful for him to control his flight, and it was entirely possible he’d send himself flying off course and have to start the whole test over again. The only option left was to fire off a quick series of small gusts, elevating himself in short bursts. And while that kind of rapid-fire spell casting would definitely drain his stamina quickly, Yosuke didn’t see any other option.

Yosuke summoned his Persona again and jumped in the air, a small burst of green wind shooting up from under him. It propelled him a few feet in the air, and as he reached the apex of his ascent, he repeated the spell, shooting himself up a little more. With gust after gust, Yosuke gradually rose, his motions too quick and jerky for Yukari to train an arrow on him. And then the walls started closing in on him, presenting a new danger. By the time Yosuke was halfway up the walls, he could reach out and touch them. And using his Persona so much so quickly was starting to wear him out, so he stuck out his arms and legs and started spider climbing up the walls, letting Takehaya Susano-o vanish again. It was slower than Persona-aided elevation, but it was actually less exhausting. Unfortunately, because it was slower, Yukari felt confident trying to hit him again, and an arrow grazed the section of his pants hanging right below his groin.

“HEY!” Yosuke shouted. “NOT COOL, AIMING FOR THERE!”

“There’s no rules against it!” Yukari shouted back.

“HOW ABOUT THE RULES OF HUMAN DECENCY!?”

The space between the walls continued to shrink as Yosuke climbed them, and he was still twenty feet from the top when he could no longer maneuver upwards. Although they stopped closing in before they could crush him, he was sandwiched between them, and no amount of writhing around was going to set him free. Yosuke had just enough room to stick out his arm and summon his Persona again.

Takehaya Susano-o did the one thing Yosuke didn’t want to do: Create a giant blast of air to shoot him upwards. The violent current blasted Yosuke to the top, like a spitball going through a straw. Yosuke reached the top of the shaft and popped out from between the walls, flying about fifteen more feet up into the air before coming down on the platform containing the next checkpoint.

DING.

The fifth and final checkpoint was just beyond another balance beam, this one about fifteen feet long. It was a pretty straight shot, though as far as Yosuke could tell, the major obstacle this time was Yukari herself. The top of her tower was just past the final checkpoint, across a ten-foot gap and elevated about fifteen feet above the balance beam, which gave her a straight shot at Yosuke. While Yosuke was running across that beam, there would be no alternative path to jump to and nothing to take cover behind, so Yukari was sure to hit him.

And then a hatch opened up in the ceiling, and a torrent of sand poured down onto the balance beam. Only a little stuck to the surface, the rest —so many cubic feet Yosuke couldn’t even begin to guess how much there really was— dropping down to the floor below. Yosuke was guessing that the loose sand was meant to make the balance beam harder to cross, but it occurred to him that this was an opportunity. Yosuke had Takehaya Susano-o create two gusts of wind. The first was a gentle breeze that brushed the sand off the balance beam, making it easier to cross. The second was a huge blast that came from the floor, blowing a ton of sand high into the air, creating a cloud covering the entire area around the balance beam that was too thick to see through. Now all Yosuke had to do was run straight ahead while Yukari couldn’t see him, and he’d reach the final checkpoint.

Yukari heard Yosuke’s footsteps approaching on the beam and let out a melancholy sigh. He had taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Yukari activated the infrared vision on her goggles, and Yosuke’s heat signature was visible through the sand plain as day. She let loose another arrow and struck her target square in the head, causing Yosuke to fall from the balance beam.

As Yosuke fell what felt like 100 feet, he knew there was only one option left. Thanks to the head pain, it took him a moment to summon his Persona again, and he knew he had already fallen too far to make elevating himself with a bunch of little blasts feasible. And so, just before Yosuke hit the ground, he had Takehaya Susano-o let out the biggest, baddest Garudyne possible. The explosion of winds jettisoned him upwards, and Yosuke flew past the balance beam at breakneck speed, crashing into the ceiling high above. In too much pain to conjure another wind spell, it was pure luck — perhaps the first genuinely lucky moment in Yosuke’s entire life — that caused him to fall down directly onto the beam stomach-first. The landing hurt like hell, but Yosuke was able to wrap his arms and legs around the beam like he had with the posts earlier, holding onto it tight. And though it was hardly optimal, he began to shimmy along the top of the beam like a right-side-up sloth, approaching the last checkpoint with the speed of a sloth too. Yukari fired arrow after arrow at Yosuke, pelting his back over and over. Yosuke endured the pain through sheer stubbornness and made his way across the beam. As each arrow bounced off his body, he thought more and more that despite their rubber exterior, they must have been metal on the inside to pack as much of a punch as they did. And despite the fact that he was getting tenderized like a steak, Yosuke couldn’t help but be impressed by how Yukari was able to effectively use a bow with such heavy projectiles. He guessed that all those trick shots she pulled off on Featherman weren’t just special effects after all.

DING.

Yosuke reached the final checkpoint and rose to his feet, looking up at Yukari. He was tired and sore, probably bruised enough that you could play connect-the-dots on his back, but he was determined to finish this challenge. As Yukari kept another arrow trained on him, Yosuke looked at the top of the tower she was standing on. It looked just big enough to hold both of them, but if he wasn’t careful she’d surely be able to knock him away. Yosuke had to get to Yukari and take the goggles without actually attacking her, and he needed to do it in a way that she couldn’t easily repel him. Because if she did, well…

Yosuke looked down. It was a looooong drop. And he doubted that even that copious amount of sand would be enough to stop him from breaking his neck.

And then Yosuke had an idea.

Yukari watched as Yosuke summoned yet another huge gust of wind, lifting a ton of sand into the air again. She switched to her infrared vision again and watched as Yosuke flew up into the air, likely with the aid of another wind spell, trying to use the sand screen as cover so he could reach her and the goggles. But just before she could launch her arrow…

“MAGARUDYNE!”

Multiple tornados surrounded Yukari’s tower. The rapid winds were cold, and in thermal vision all Yukari could see were swirling blues and purples in the wall of currents surrounding her. Yukari switched back to normal vision and looked around, but the tornados were keeping the sand in the air, causing it to swirl around, obscuring her vision. She turned every which way, figuring Yosuke was riding around the chain of tornados, trying to make out his figure in the dust devils so she could tell which direction he’d come from and repel her.

And then the winds suddenly stopped. And Yosuke was nowhere to been seen. And the next thing Yukari knew, she sensed a presence behind her, and the goggles were being lifted up from over her eyes and pulled off her head.

Yukari turned around and saw a sand-crusted Yosuke standing behind her, donning the goggles and giving her a cheeky grin.

“I win!” he shouted giddily.

“I don’t believe it!” Despite her incredulous tone, Yukari couldn’t help but smile. “You actually did it!”

“Yup!”

“But HOW!?” Yukari looked around the tower and the sand in the air began to fall back to the ground. “I couldn’t see what was going on in those dust devils, so how could you have ridden inside them and seen your way to land safely on the tower!?”

“I didn’t.” Yosuke walked to the edge of the tower and looked down. “C’mere.”

Yukari did as Yosuke instructed, looking down as well. Yosuke summoned his Persona one last time and created a second ring of tornadoes just below the tower’s edge.

“While you were trying to figure out which dust devil I was in, I was actually down here, grabbing onto the ledge. I waited until you were facing away from me, then gave myself a little updraft to help me climb up here and snatch the goggles from you.”

“Incredible…” Yukari looked at Yosuke and grinned. “I’m not gonna lie, at first I thought you might’ve just been Junpei 2.0, but there’s no way ol’ Stupei would’ve thought of a trick like that!”

“Hey!” Junpei’s voice rang out through the speakers. Yukari and Yosuke looked to the observation deck to see a very impressed Mitsuru and an upset Junpei observing them. “I thought I told you to quit callin’ me that!”

The Dark Zone turned off and the tower started sinking back into the floor.

“Hey,” Yukari called out, “what are the final results!?”

“Hanamura completed the course in two minutes and seventeen seconds” Mitsuru said.

“Not bad.”

“So how’d I do overall?” Yosuke asked.

“Well, the first three obstacles you were great at. I thought for sure you were gonna fail when you got stuck between those walls, but I have to admit, I was impressed with how you got yourself out of there.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but that final balance beam…” Yukari scowled at Junpei. “That was a really stupid and dangerous thing you did, shooting yourself into the ceiling like that. It’s one thing to be daring. It’s another thing to be reckless. So I have to dock some points for that.”

“Well once you knocked me off, it’s not like I had a lot of options.”

“You shouldn’t have let me knock you off in the first place!”

“I tried my best. I put up that sand screen, didn’t I?”

“And I told you before I had thermal vision, so you should’ve known that wouldn’t have worked!”

“Alright then, what would you have done?”

“You had a lot of room between me and that last checkpoint. If I were in your position, I would’ve kicked up a bunch of winds in that gap so all my arrows would’ve gotten knocked off course.”

“That’s… That’s…” Yosuke sat down on the floor and put his hands on his head. “THAT’S SO OBVIOUS!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Damn it, why didn’t I think of that!? I’m such an idiot!”

“Yeah, you are.” Yukari laughed and ruffled Yosuke’s hair. “But you’re a pretty smart idiot, so you still pass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to rush to get this one up before leaving for the airport.
> 
> I wanted to have one final chapter but realized I can't. So there'll be at least two more, and possibly an epilogue.
> 
> Probably no updates for a few days.


	8. Stranger in a Strange World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke's second test has him enter a virtual world.

Yosuke expected his next test to take place in the briefing room, but was instead called to the laboratory in the lowest floor of the compound. Outside of the lab’s door, he was greeted by Mitsuru and Ken.

“Alright Hanamura,” Mitsuru said, “you’ve proven your ability to think in life or death situations. Today, we’re going to see just how well you handle the more discrete side of our work.”

“Wait, what?” Yosuke gave Mitsuru a confused look. “I thought this was going to be a written test.”

“Hardly.” Mitsuru crossed her arms. “You cannot effectively evaluate a man’s espionage skills with simple pen and paper.”

“You’re going to run a simulated mission” Ken said. “We’ve set up a virtual reality apparatus for you to plug into.”

“Whoa, really?” Yosuke looked at the door to the laboratory excitedly. “I didn’t know we had tech like that!”

“And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.” Ken took a step forward. “I realize that in the past month I may have been overzealous in my role as taskmaster, but I want you to know that I have full confidence in you, Yosuke-San. So long as you maintain a cool head, I’m certain that you’ll pass.” Ken extended his hand.

“Wow. Uh… thanks, Ken.” Yosuke felt weird as he shook Ken’s hand. This was the nicest Ken had been to him since he’d arrived. “And since you almost sound like you’re saying goodbye or something, I’m guessing that you won’t be the one handling the test.”

“That’s right.” Ken broke the handshake and smirked. “Keep those observational skills of yours sharp. They’ll be a great asset today.”

Yosuke entered the lab without another word. Waiting inside was Aigis, standing between two pods that Labrys had informed him were charging stations for Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons. 

“Welcome, Yosuke-San” Aigis said.

“Aigis-San!” Yosuke’s voice cracked a little and he cleared his throat. “I thought you were on a mission in France!”

“I returned to Japan last night. My mission was deemed a failure. Sho Minazuki has evaded us yet again.” Aigis frowned for a second, but her face quickly lit up. “I am choosing not to linger on this. Labrys has informed me that you passed Yukari-San’s test. I believe congratulations are in order.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Yosuke looked around the lab. “So, you’re gonna be handling my spy test?”

“I will be involved, yes. But I am not your only proctor in this examination.” Aigis turned to one of the charging pods. “Is the reconfiguration completed yet?”

“Almost” a familiar voice said. Yosuke heard the sound of something being plugged in. “All done!”

Fuuka walked out from behind one of the charging pods and gave Yosuke a slight bow.

“Hello, Yosuke-Kun. It’s good to see you again.”

“Fuuka-San, you’re here too?” Yosuke looked back and forth between the two women in front of him and sulked. “Oh man, how tough is this test that it needs two people grading it?”

“Oh, it’s not like that at all!” Fuuka shook her head. “The test is difficult, but Aigis and I will be performing very different roles in it.”

“Fuuka-San has turned one of our charging stations into a virtual reality interface device.” Aigis pointed to one of the pods and Yosuke noticed a bulky-looking helmet dangling from the top of it. “You and I shall be entering virtual reality together, while Fuuka-San monitors the simulation from outside.”

“You’re coming with me?” Yosuke asked.

“Not exactly” Fuuka said. “We developed this technology by studying how Aigis and Labrys dream. Since the two of them have human-level cognitive functioning and imaginations, we’re able to use their minds to build a virtual world more realistic than any pre-programmed simulation. Aigis won’t be going into the simulated world with you, Yosuke-Kun. She IS the simulated world.”

“Seriously!?” Yosuke gave Aigis a concerned look. “You’re gonna turn yourself into a whole world!? Is that safe!?”

“There is no need to be concerned for my wellbeing, Yosuke-San.” Aigis put on a smile and looked into Yosuke’s eyes. There was something incredibly calming about her voice and expression. “I am not capable of simulating an entire planet, even with the aid of our laboratory’s computers. I will simply be manipulating the artificial beings you encounter in our digital environment. It is no different to me than ‘playing make-believe’.”

“Artificial beings, huh?” Yosuke scratched his head. “What is this test, exactly?”

“You’ll be simulating a simple reconnaissance mission.” Fuuka sat down in front of a large computer built into the wall. “You’ll be assigned a target to steal information from. While your mind is in the virtual world, you’ll be able to move freely as if you were in full control of your body. You will interact with the environment and individuals controlled by Aigis and complete your mission within the assigned parameters.”

“Wait, if Aigis-San is everyone I meet AND the world, doesn’t that mean she knows everything I’m doing all the time? Which means the guys she controls will know what I’m doing no matter how careful I am?”

“You need not worry about me cheating, Yosuke-San. I will ensure that everyone you meet acts appropriately.” Aigis stepped into the pod without the helmet and gave the closest thing Yosuke imagined she could to a smirk. “It is a good thing I returned when I did. Otherwise, my sister would be the one creating the simulation, and I am not certain that she could give you the fair treatment you deserve.”

“You think Labrys would make things extra-hard for me?”

“Just the opposite.” Aigis disconnected one of the headphone-looking things on the side of her head, revealing a port for a cable to plug into. “From the communications I have had with my sister over the past month, I believe she would be unable to stop herself from giving you extra assistance so you could pass your test.”

“Why do you say that?”

Aigis inserted a cable into her head and leaned back into the pod, closing her eyes.

“Aigis-San? You didn’t answer my question!” Yosuke walked over to the pod and tapped on her head a few times. “Helloooooo? You still in there?”

“She has already begun constructing the simulation, Yosuke-Kun.” Fuuka walked over to the pod and grabbed the helmet, holding it out to Yosuke. “We are ready to begin the exam. Please put this on.”

“Ok.” Yosuke stepped into his pod and put on the helmet. It completely obscured his vision. “Now what?”

There was no reply. Yosuke waited for a few seconds, but heard nothing.

“Fuuka-San? Did you go somewhere?”

“Sorry about that.” Fuuka’s voice came out through a speaker inside the helmet. “I forgot to turn on my microphone. The helmet blocks out all outside stimuli, so you won’t be disturbed while in cyberspace.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Are you ready to begin?”

“Yeah. Is there anything I need to do?”

“Just hold perfectly still.”

There was a bright flash of light and Yosuke’s head started buzzing. For a moment he felt pins and needles all over, like his entire body had fallen asleep, but the unpleasant sensation passed after about ten seconds. When the white disappeared, Yosuke found himself sitting in a small hotel room. Or, well, he knew he was still in that pod, but it sure felt like a real hotel room. Yosuke wasn’t sure what to expect from a virtual environment. Maybe everything would be made out of lines or kind of blurry or something, but everything seemed so real. The bed he was sitting on felt real, the dingy walls of the cheap room looked real, the cheap carpet under his feet felt real when he stood up. The place even smelled like some kind of weird cleaning product, and he could hear car horns outside. Yosuke walked over to his window and looked outside. He was in some kind of city, with a bunch of cars on the street and people walking along the sidewalk, mostly white people.

“Where is this place?”

“Oh good!” Yosuke turned around to see Fuuka, though her hair was shorter and she was dressed in a pantsuit with a badge pinned to her chest. “The integration worked perfectly!”

“Fuuka-San! You’re here too?”

“This is just a digital avatar I’m controlling from the outside.” Fuuka pointed to the badge on her chest. It had the words 'City of New York Police Detective' on it. “And it’s ‘Detective Yamagishi’. I’m your contact in this world. Welcome to Manhattan.”

“‘Manhattan’…” Yosuke looked at the floor in thought, then back up at Fuuka in surprise. “Wait, you mean New York City!? Am I in America!?”

“A simulation of America, yes.” Fuuka opened the briefcase and handed Yosuke a manilla folder. “Take a look at this.”

Yosuke looked inside the folder. The first thing he saw was pictures of a man with olive skin, a scary-looking face, pointy nose, and slicked back hair in a nice suit. In some of the pictures he was surrounded by larger, even scarier men.

“This is one scary-looking dude.” Yosuke looked at the pictures closely. “Like something out of one of those mafia movies.”

“That’s because he’s a member of the mafia” Fuuka said.

“Oh.”

“The man in these photos is Dante Moretti, one of the biggest arms dealers in the city.” Fuuka walked over to the window. “Recently he’s snuck a large shipment of automatic weaponry into town. Tomorrow night he’s going to start distributing all of it to members of his organization. For this examination, your job is to stop those guns from reaching the streets.”

“Got it.” Yosuke looked up at Fuuka. “So what, I tail the guy to the place they’re being held tomorrow and blow it up or something?”

“Nothing so drastic. This is a covert operation.” Fuuka turned back to Yosuke. “Your job is to find out where the guns are being held and report back to me so the NYPD can raid the location and seize them long before Moretti goes to pick them up.”

“Alright, so how do I do that?”

“Moretti has a lot of roles in his organization. In addition to being a Capo who runs the arms trade, he also manages an Italian restaurant as a front for money laundering.” Fuuka pointed to a picture of Moretti sitting at a table in a nice-looking restaurant with a young boy who looked like a tiny copy of him. “But he also plays another role that has nothing to do with the mafia: Dedicated family man.”

“So this kid is his?”

“Yes. That’s his son Angelo. Today is his seventh birthday, and Dante is taking him and his friends to a party at Dan and Booster’s, a combination arcade and restaurant in Times Square.” Fuuka rooted through the folder and pulled out a few pictures showing a bar, kids and adults playing skee-ball, a prize counter, and more. “Moretti refuses to do business in his son’s presence, which means it will be the only time he’s not surrounded by his associates, making it easier to spy on him.”

“But if he doesn’t do business when his kid’s around, doesn’t that mean he won’t be talking about where the guns are?”

“Yes.” Fuuka pinched her brow. “You’ll have to infiltrate the Dan and Booster’s and find a way to get any information you can out of Moretti.”

“And I’m guessing since this is a test, you’re not gonna tell me how.”

“That’s correct. Although we can provide you with the tools to formulate your own plan.” Fuuka placed the briefcase on the bed and popped it open. “Take a look.”

Fuuka walked Yosuke through the gadgets contained within the briefcase, all of which were standard operating equipment for the Shadow Operatives. Yosuke recognized the goggles Yukari had worn in the previous test. There were some other items he was already familiar with from Ken’s lessons as well, like an earpiece that acted as a communicator and had universal translation software built in. There were also a number of small bugs that could be attached to any surface. Some of the items were completely new to Yosuke, like a few EMP coins that could make any machine they came in contact with go haywire or even act as a taser, and a pen containing a potent drug that could do anything from make somebody delirious to knock them out completely depending on the dosage used. Yosuke held up the last item, which by all appearances was a simple credit card.

“So what’s this do?” Yosuke asked Fuuka. “Is it some kind of secret razor or multitool or something?”

“It’s a debit card.” Fuuka giggled at Yosuke. “It has 10,000 American dollars loaded onto it already.”

“Whoa…” Yosuke looked the card over. “How much is that in yen?”

“A little over a million.”

“For real!?” Yosuke tightened his grip around the card and slipped it into his pocket. He hadn’t had access to that kind of money since the Investigation Team days, and usually any money they made went straight back into getting new gear. “Man, the Kirijo Group really is loaded, huh?”

“Well, it’s certainly true that a million yen is a trifle to Mitsuru-Senpai, and usually our agents are given far more, but this is a simulation so it’s not like any spending on your part with drain our resources.” Fuuka frowned slightly. “Still, please treat this seriously, Yosuke-Kun. The purpose of this test is to see how you can handle spy work without getting hurt. While your mind is in this world, you’ll feel pain from anything happening to you just like you would in the real world.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” Yosuke had thought he had dealt with enough pain over the past month. “So anything that happens to me in here will happen to me out there?”

“Of course not. Your physical body will be fine.” Fuuka walked over to Yosuke and pinched him on the arm. It hurt as much as a real pinch would. “But pain is all in the brain. So while you’re in here, your brain will give the same pain reactions to certain stimuli as it would in the real world.”

“Got it.” Yosuke looked out the window again. It amazed him just how realistic this simulation was. There had to be dozens of people walking along the tiny slice of street he could see, and none of them were identical. In a video game there’d be a lot of repeat models, but here, it was indistinguishable from reality. “So, when do I start?”

“The party begins in three hours.” Fuuka started to leave the room. “It’s up to you to decide how to prepare for it.”

* * *

Yosuke figured his best bet for this mission was to disguise himself as a stereotypical Japanese tourist. He went out and bought a white fishing hat, fake glasses, an “I ♥︎ NY” shirt, a fanny pack, and a large camera that hung around his neck. Overall, he felt like a total dork, but he had worn worse for his job at Junes and this was at least secret agent business, so he could take some kind of pride in it. Still, he was really glad that none of his friends could see him like this.

Yosuke arrived at the Dan and Booster’s at about 4:45, fifteen minutes before Dante Moretti was supposed to show up with his son’s party. He wasn’t really sure what his gameplan was yet, so he bought ten dollars worth of tokens for the games in the arcade and started to case the area. Yosuke didn’t have any kind of information about what kind of games Moretti’s kid was likely to play, so he planted bugs near some mainstays. The prize counter, the skee-ball games, the basketball game, whack-a-mole, the dancing machine, one of the racing games, and the token machine were all bugged. He also decided to bug places Moretti might go for some privacy, like the men’s bathroom, the bar, and the photo booth.

Moretti arrived with a half dozen children at 5:20. Yosuke kept his distance, keeping an eye on Moretti at all times but not usually daring to get close to him. He would let himself get some extra distance whenever Moretti got close to one of his bugs and listen in through his earpiece, though there wasn’t much to hear. 

“Hey, Julio, don’t run off too far!”

“‘Attaboy, sonny! Whack them moles!”

“Go easy on that candy, kid, dinner’s at seven!”

For a moment Yosuke thought he had something when Moretti’s phone rang and he ducked into the photo booth. But all he heard was Moretti yelling at one of his subordinates not to disturb him during his son’s birthday party unless the matter was supremely important. Evidently whatever the guy was calling about didn’t qualify. Yosuke realized the only way he was going to get any information out of this guy without following him home was if he could somehow give him reason to think an emergency was imminent.

Yosuke’s plan began at the basketball machine. Really, he wasn’t a phenomenal basketball player. He’d played a few 2v2 games with Yu, Daisuke, and Kou in the past, but of the four of them he was easily the worst player. Still, he didn’t need to actually be a good player. He just had to keep playing a few machines away from where Angelo Dante was being coached by his father to try and sink the ball into the hoop.

“YAHOO!” Yosuke shouted. “JACKPOT!”

While the two weren’t looking, Yosuke had slipped one of his EMP coins into the token slot of the basketball machine. It resulted in the machine spitting out an entire ream of prize tickets, taking a minute to dispense all of them.

“Whoa!” Angelo looked at Yosuke and pointed at the steadily-growing pile of tickets collecting on the floor. “Look at all those tickets!”

“I SHAQ O’JORDAN!” Yosuke started doing an incredibly dorky victory dance. “HE SCORE, HE SHOOT!”

Normally, Yosuke wasn’t half-bad at English. It had been one of his less-terrible subjects in high school, and he became especially motivated to learn it in college when he developed a crush on a foreign student from England. That kind of motivation worked out better than he could have expected, and while he wasn’t exactly fluent, his English became good enough for him to ask her out… as well as good enough to understand just how cutting the insults she responded with actually were. Still, for this cover, he was speaking in very broken English.

“No kiddin’.” Moretti looked at the tickets, whistled, then looked up at Yosuke. “Ya wouldn’t think a chink like that’d be that good at basketball.”

“Yeah.” Angelo looked at the basketball in his hands and the tiny strip of tickets currently sticking out of the machine he was using. “Do ya think I could be that good someday?”

“Hey, don’t get down over that guy!” Moretti put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Ya only just turned seven today! Ya got plenty of time t’get better!”

That was as good a cue for Yosuke as any.

“Ah, pardon!” Yosuke turned to Moretti. “You say he turn seven!?” Yosuke looked down at Angelo. “It your birthday!?”

“Yeah” Angelo said.

“Very good!” Yosuke tore the final printed ticket from his machine and hefted up the entire wad of tickets from the floor, holding it out to the boy. “Here go! Happy birthday!”

“Really!?” Angelo looked up at his father. “Is that ok, Dad!?”

“I mean… Uh…” Moretti looked at Yosuke suspiciously. “What’s the catch?”

“I just like play games!” Yosuke said. “No need tickets! Prizes all cheap junk!”

“Alright then…” Moretti patted his son on the back. “Thank the man, Angelo.”

“Thanks, mister!” Angelo accepted the huge mound of tickets from Yosuke, his face becoming hidden behind the pile.

“Enjoy! Happy birthday!”

Yosuke waved and walked away, overhearing Moretti tell his son something about bringing the tickets to the prize counter to get a receipt for them so he wouldn’t have lug around the unseemly pile. And with that, phase one of the plan was complete.

Phase two began shortly after 7:00. Moretti’s party had sat down to dinner, all snacking away on overpriced junk food. Yosuke sat down at the bar at 7:10 and ordered two pints of beer. One was for himself, but the other he slipped the drug from the fake pen into and had sent over to Moretti. Just as he hoped, Moretti didn’t drink it immediately. Instead, he accepted the beer, looked at Yosuke suspiciously, and stormed over to him.

“Alright, Chinaman…” Moretti slammed the pint on the bar. “What gives!? You tryin’ to butter me up or somethin’!?”

“Excuse me?” Yosuke gave Moretti a baffled look. It wasn’t too hard to fake. All he had to do is pretend Chie was lecturing him about some kung fu movie.

“First you just happen to give my kid a bunch of tickets, and now you’re sendin’ me a beer? Whaddya want?”

“I no want nothing.”

“Bullshit!” Moretti sat down on the barstool next to Yosuke and leaned forward. “Nobody just gives shit away for free! You know who I am, don’t you!?”

“Of course!”

“I knew it.” Moretti shook his head and grumbled. “Listen pal, I don’t discuss business around fam-“

“You father of birthday boy!” Yosuke clapped his hands. “Congratulations!”

“Huh?”

“In my country, birthday very big event!” Yosuke pointed to the beer. “It tradition to buy parents of birthday boy drink!”

“So…” Moretti scratched his head. “You DON’T know who I am?”

“No.” Yosuke shook his head. “You famous?”

“Uh…” Moretti shrugged. “Not really. Just got a lot of people who wanna do business with me.”

“Well, no business tonight!” Yosuke held up his pint. “Tonight, you enjoy family time! To birthday boy!”

“Hear, hear!” Moretti held up his pint and clanked it against Yosuke’s. The two of them took a big swig of beer each.

And as Moretti’s eyes started to glaze over a little, phase two was in full motion. Yosuke looked up at the TV and put on a shocked expression.

“Oh!”

“Hm?” Moretti put down his drink and looked at the TV. His vision was starting to blur a bit so he couldn’t make out what was on it. “Somethin’ good on?”

“Yes!” Yosuke looked down at Moretti and nodded vigorously. “On news! Police make big… how you say… ‘gun bust’?”

Yosuke was lying, of course. The TV was not showing a news story about a gun bust. The news was currently doing a fluff piece about a baby koala in a zoo. Though in Moretti’s drug-addled state, the screen could’ve been showing hardcore pornography and he’d have no idea.

“What!?”

“Yes! American police so bold!” Yosuke propped his elbow on the bar and held his head in his hand. “In my country, gangs very powerful! Police no dare mess with them!”

“‘Scuse me for a minute.” Moretti got up from the bar and walked away. “That beer just went straight through me. I gotta use the john.”

“Okay! Goodbye!” Yosuke waved at Moretti as he walked away, slowly raising his hand to his ear and tuning in to the feed from the bug in the bathroom. Yosuke heard Moretti storming around, opening and closing every stall before finally locking one. There was the sound of a phone being unlocked, followed by Moretti’s voice.

“Yeah, it’s me. I’m checkin’ on the guns.”

“I know what I said earlier, this is important!”

“Look, are they still at Gino’s place or not!? This is important, damn it!”

“Did you get that, Yamagishi?” Yosuke was walking towards the exit of the Dan and Booster’s. “He mentioned ‘Gino’s’. That mean anything to you?”

“I believe he’s referring to Gino’s Italian Market” Fuuka said through the earpiece. “It’s a large shop full of goods imported from Italy speculated by the NYPD to be a front for the mob. Moretti is a frequent customer there, and Gino has delivery trucks coming in all the time, so it would be easy to sneak guns into there.”

“Alright, so do I need to bust in or-“

“Your mission was to gather information. You’ve succeeded, Yosuke-Kun.” Fuuka’s voice softened a bit, leaving the role of the police detective character she’d created for herself. “Is there anything else you’d like to do before leaving the simulation?”

“Uh… Not really.”

“Hm…” Fuuka paused. “Alright then. Ending simulation.”

The world started to come apart around Yosuke. First the people on the street all vanished. Then the sky went black. Then the buildings faded away, and then Yosuke couldn’t even see his own hands anymore. 

* * *

Yosuke felt the virtual reality helmet being lifted off his head. As he readjusted to the lights of the real world, the first thing to come into his vision was Aigis’s face.

“Are you feeling well, Yosuke-San?” Aigis held up her hand to his face and wiggled her fingers. “Do you have control of your body?”

“Uh…” Yosuke held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. “Yeah.”

“Well then, I would like to extend my congratulations.” Aigis smiled at Yosuke. “You have passed this examination with a solid B grade.”

“A B?” Yosuke stretched out his arms. “What did I do wrong?”

“You managed to cleverly extract the information desired from the target, but you failed to clean up after yourself.” Aigis took a few steps back from Yosuke. “You did not remember to retrieve the bugs you left behind at the entertainment center, and you left a mug with a drug in it unattended. It is possible that when Moretti’s head cleared, he could have realized what you did.”

“Oh man…” Yosuke gulped at the thought of the mafia chasing him down through New York City. “That would be bad.”

“Not as bad as you’re imagining” Fuuka said. “Moretti could have realized he’d been drugged and there was no story about guns being seized on the news, but by then the police already would have reached the stockpile of guns and he’d have bigger problems to deal with than hunting you down.”

“Still, this oversight must not go ignored” Aigis said. “I will suggest to Mitsuru-San that you not be sent on any undercover operations without a more-experienced agent until you are more accustomed to this sort of work. Although I do not imagine she was planning otherwise.”

“Alright then. Good to know.” Yosuke began to step out of the pod. “I definitely wouldn’t say no to some backu- WHOA!”

Yosuke took a step out of the pod and his legs gave out from under him. He immediately started falling to the ground, only stopped when Aigis caught him by the back of his shirt.

“It would seem you have not fully re-adjusted to your real body, Yosuke-San.” Aigis dragged Yosuke over to a chair and placed him in it. “Do not worry, you should be back to normal in an hour.”

“So I gotta sit here for a whole hour!?”

“Of course not. It is important that you rest properly for tomorrow’s final exam.” Aigis opened the lab door. “Sister, Yosuke-San cannot walk right now. Would you please take him back to his room for recuperation?”

“Sure thing!” Labrys bounded into the room and stood over Yosuke, looking at him. “Alright, how we gonna do this?”

“Do what?” Yosuke looked up at Labrys in confusion.

“Well, that chair don’t got any wheels, so I gotta carry ya back to your room.” Labrys tilted her head. “I could use the chair for that too, but then I’d have to bring it back, so…”

“Hey!” Yosuke yelped as Labrys picked him up with her robot strength and slung him over her shoulder like a bag of laundry. “Careful!”

“Don’t worry, Yosuke-Kun.” Labrys headed down the hall with a bounce in her step, roughly jostling Yosuke’s soft stomach against her metal shoulder over and over. “You’re in good hands!”

Yosuke threw up halfway to the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, this took forever to write.
> 
> I am not accustomed to espionage stuff so this was a brand new experience for me. I was gonna add more stuff to make it longer but I just reached a point where I wanted to move on. If I wanted to do this properly, just this exam could be a multi-chapter fic on its own, but I have no desire to do that.
> 
> Also I've had video game ADD bouncing between Dragon Ball FighterZ, the new Dissidia game, NieR: Automata, and Tomb Raider, trying to find something that'll give me a satisfying experience.
> 
> I am downloading Shadow of the Colossus as I post this hoping for the best.


	9. The Final Exam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In order to become a Shadow Operative, Yosuke has to fight the boss herself. And she's not alone. Thankfully, neither is he.

Yosuke had to remember to thank Yu later. This woman Yu’d introduced him to was just Yosuke’s type: Super hot and totally into him. And now they were on a date together. For the first time in well, ever, Yosuke was totally charming a beautiful woman. She hung onto his arm the whole night as they walked under the stars, her massive breasts pushing right up into his shoulder.

“I can’t believe this night has gone so well” Yosuke said. “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.”

“Oh, I’m sure I can give you a surprise or two” she said.

“Yeah?” Yosuke looked into her eyes devilishly. “Like what?”

“Like what color my underwear is.” Her grip around Yosuke’s arm tightened. “Why don’t you try guessing?”

“Uh… black?”

“Nope.”

“White?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Pink?”

“Wrong again!”

“Alright, I give up. I feel like we could do this all night and I’d never get it.”

“You’re right. You’d never guess it in a million years. Because it’s a trick question.” She stood on her tip toes and whispered into Yosuke’s ear. “You see-“

“ARF! ARF! WOOF!”

Yosuke groaned as his eyes opened. For some reason he never got to the good part of this kind of dream. Without fail, every time it reached the climax, something would interrupt him. Almost always Teddie. This morning, though, Yosuke sat up to find a different furry friend making noise at the foot of his bed.

“Koromaru?” Yosuke yawned and rubbed his eyes. “How’d you get in here?”

“ARF!”

Koromaru hopped up onto the bed, turning to show Yosuke a folded-up note in his collar. Yosuke removed it and unfolded it, reading the message for him. 

> _Yosuke-Kun,_
> 
> _I let Koromaru into your room in case you forgot to set your alarm again. Breakfast is waiting for you on the desk. Eat and get dressed quick, and be in the Dark Room in one hour. I’ll see you then for your final exam._
> 
> _-Labrys_

“Huh.” Yosuke looked over to the desk to see a covered platter sitting on top of it. He got out of bed and lifted the dome off the platter. It wasn’t anything fancy. Just some simple bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, and a cup of coffee, although it all smelled pretty good.

“BARK!”

Yosuke looked over to Koromaru, who was now standing by the door, staring at him expectantly.

“What?” Yosuke picked up a strip of bacon and held it out. “You want one?”

“WOOF!” Koromaru started pawing at the door.

“Ok, ok, hold your horses.” Yosuke lumbered over to the door and held it open for Koromaru.

“BARK!” Koromaru jumped up and snatched the bacon strip out of Yosuke's hand with his jaw, then dashed down the hall, disappearing around the corner in the blink of an eye.

"You didn't have to steal it!" Yosuke yelled after him. "I already offered to share!"

Yosuke wolfed down his breakfast and showered as quickly as possible. Whatever this final exam was, it must’ve been a big deal if Labrys was having him go alone. Even though he’d gotten a pretty good idea of the layout of the compound, Labrys had escorted him pretty much everywhere for the past month. Walking through the halls without her gave him this sense of immensity, like he was on the march towards something of monumental importance. Which, well, he was. Yosuke had endured a month of physical and mental exhaustion like he’d never experienced. In the past month he’d had his body and mind pushed to the brink, fought Shadows, been tortured, nearly broken his neck in that one obstacle course, and been sent into a virtual world, all under the watch of these incredible people the whole time. All of the Shadow Operatives were his seniors, if not in age then at least in experience, having done the kind of work he’d wanted to for years, and there was something about the way they carried themselves that made them seem almost like gods or something. They were these legendary figures who had been fighting monsters and saving the world longer and more often than Yosuke had, and everything they did carried so much weight, from the infectious laughter of Junpei to the bold, authoritative lecturing of Ken to the icy, blood-curdling stare of Mitsuru. And they were all expecting greatness from him. It was hard not to feel pressure from that.

And this last test, this final trial, this whatever it was that was about to go down in the Dark Room was the culmination of all of that. He had passed every test they’d thrown at him, survived the hell month nobody else had made it through, and now it all hinged on this. Whatever it was, he had no idea if he was ready for it. But readiness didn’t matter now. All it came down to now was skill.

When Yosuke entered the Dark Room, everyone was waiting for him. All lined up were Yukari, Junpei, Ken, Mitsuru, Aigis, Labrys, and Koromaru. Yosuke immediately noticed that they all had their weapons with them. Even Labrys had her wings on, and Aigis seemed to have some huge cannon attached to her arm instead of a hand. Fuuka and Kikuno were both looking down from the observation deck.

“Welcome to your final exam, Hanamura.” Mitsuru stepped forward. “Today, we’ll-“

“Where is he?” Yosuke asked.

“I beg your pardon?” Mitsuru was clearly not happy about being interrupted.

“Akihiko-San.” Yosuke looked around the room. “I know a pattern when I see one. For the past couple days you’ve been bringing in everyone from S.E.E.S., even if they’re not Shadow Operatives anymore. Where are you hiding him?”

“Alright then.” Mitsuru smiled. “I suppose there’s no point in pretending otherwise. Kikuno!”

“Yes, Lady Mitsuru.”

A part of the floor opened up.

“YOSUKE HANAMURA,” a loud voice said through the speakers, “ARE YOU READY!?”

A spotlight turned on over the hole in the floor.

“YOU’VE SURVIVED YUKARI’S OBSTACLE COURSE!”

A rumbling could be heard.

“YOU NAVIGATED THE DIGITAL WORLD!”

A red-cloaked figure started rising out of the floor. Yosuke couldn’t see the face the microphone in the figure’s hand was being held to, but it was obviously Akihiko.

“BUT NOW, YOU’LL FACE YOUR HARDEST CHALLENGE YET!”

Akihiko was rising on the same pillar Yukari had used as a sniper tower two days ago. It didn’t rise very high though. Akihiko pointed at Yosuke with his free hand.

“AND THE MAN CONDUCTING THIS TEST IS ONE OF THE GREATEST FIGHTERS IN THE WORLD! THE ONE, THE ONLY-“

“Enough, Akihiko!” Mitsuru groaned and shook her head. “He already figured it out.”

“Aw, really?” Akihiko dropped the microphone and stepped off the pillar, lowering his hood. “You mean I did that whole big entrance for nothing?”

“Akihiko and I will be administering your final exam” Mitsuru said, ignoring her oldest friend's complaint.

“Wait, both of you?” Yosuke looked back and forth between Akihiko and Mitsuru. “What is this test exactly?”

“Combat trial.” Akihiko removed his cape. He wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath. Somehow, he had even more scars than the last time Yosuke had seen him. “Mitsuru called me in because your Persona’s weak to my electric skills. But unlike Ken, I’m not weak to wind skills.”

“Alright, stacked deck thing. I get that. But if I’m fighting him…” Yosuke turned to Misturu. “What are you going to be doing?”

“I will also be fighting you.” Mitsuru unsheathed her rapier from her hip. “And I will hold nothing back.”

“Wait, we’re doing two-on-one!? And with weapons!?”

“You’re right on one count.” Mitsuru reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of kunai. “Here, you’ll need this.”

“Are you sure?” Yosuke looked at the knives apprehensively. “I mean, Persona fights are one thing, but-“

“Including yourself, six people in this room have healing skills. We’ll be fine.” Mitsuru gestured to the other Persona users in the room, still standing in a line. “Now, choose your partner.”

“Partner?” Yosuke took the knives from Mitsuru.

“I said you were right on one count. Which makes you wrong on another.” Mitsuru stood tall as Akihiko moved to stand next to her. “This final examination is a test of your ability to work with your fellow agents. Akihiko and I will be your opponents, and you’ll have to work with an agent of your choice to try and defeat us.”

“So, we have to beat you two in order to win?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Akihiko cracked his knuckles. “Mitsuru and I have worked together longer than anybody here, so we’re not expecting you to win the fight. You just have to perform well enough for us to think you’re a team player. Shouldn’t be too hard for a guy like you, right?”

“Akihiko is vulnerable to ice skills, and I to fire” Mitsuru said. “If I may make a suggestion, I would tell you to choose Iori or Koromaru, as their fire skills are strong against me, but my ice skills are not against them. If you wished to have as much of an advantage as possible, you could also choose Aigis, as she wields multiple Personas, but that may make it harder to coordinate with her in the heat of battle.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I’m not picking any of them.” Yosuke looked at the lineup, staring directly at his desired teammate. “If I’m gonna work with anybody, I choose Labrys.”

“Alright!” Labrys stepped forward, detaching her wings from her back and letting them form her axe. “ Let’s kick some butt, Yosuke-Kun!”

“Oh thank goodness.” Yukari let out a sigh of relief. “I did NOT want to fight those two.”

“Me neither” Junpei said. “Way too intense.”

“Well, it’s not as if I expected to be picked,” Ken said, “but I am surprised. I mean no offense to Labrys, but why would you choose her when she doesn’t provide you with a tactical advantage?”

“Well, this is a test of teamwork, and powers don’t determine that.” Yosuke smiled at Labrys. “Out of everyone here, Labrys is the one I get along with best. I think we’ll work really well together.”

“A sound decision, Yosuke-San.” Aigis smiled at the pair. “A strong relationship can be a great source of strength. Perhaps you may even offer Mitsuru-San and Akihiko-San a sporting challenge this way.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence…” Yosuke said, scratching his head. “I think.”

“The rest of you head up to the observation deck” Mitsuru said. “Nobody except the four combatants are to be in the Dark Room once the fight begins.”

The others cleared the room. Mitsuru and Akihiko walked to one side, Labrys and Yosuke to the other. Everybody had their weapons at the ready, Akihiko donning some kind of gauntlets that gave him full use of his fingers.

“Ya ready?” Labrys asked.

“For these two? Probably not.” Yosuke frowned. “You’ve fought these guys before, right?”

“Yeah, we’ve had some sparrin’ matches.”

“How’d it go?”

“The first time I trained with Mitsuru-San I had to use a wheelchair ’til they could build me some new legs.” Labrys saw the fear on Yosuke’s face and tried her best to give him a reassuring smile. “But I didn’t have back-up then! It’ll be fine, you’ll see!”

“I hope so.”

“We are now activating the Dark Zone” Fuuka said over the speakers.

That all-too-familiar pulse came. The first few times Yosuke had been in a Dark Zone, it’d been strange, but he’d gotten used to over the past 30 days. He looked at Mitsuru and Akihiko, trying to see if he could figure out what their opening move would be. It did him no good. The two were like statues, completely unreadable. If they had any apprehensions about what was about to go down, they certainly didn’t show it.

“Ready…” Fuuka said.

Yosuke looked to Labrys. She seemed a little nervous, though not as much as him. She gave him a wink and held her axe in front of her, ready to take on the boss.

“GO!”

Yosuke held out his hand to summon his Persona. It took a few seconds for the card to materialize in front of him, and in that time, Akihiko had broken into a full sprint, closing the distance between them rapidly. Before Yosuke could slash his card with his knife, Akihiko’s fist was already slamming into his face, and Yosuke shot through the air, flying into a wall.

Labrys swung her axe at Akihiko with one hand. It was a big, slow, clumsy move, so it was easy for him to jump back and dodge. Which would have been disappointing if Labrys had actually wanted to do anything other than put a little distance between them. She pointed her free hand towards Mitsuru and shot her chain knuckle at her red-haired opponent.

Without missing a beat, Mitsuru sidestepped the flying hand and threaded her rapier through the hole in one of the chain’s links, sticking her sword into the ground. Labrys started trying to pull her hand back with the winch in her arm, but Mitsuru pressed down on the rapier with her entire body, struggling to keep the mechanical appendage in place. Freeing one hand, she drew her Evoker and pointed it at her head, pulling the trigger.

“PERSONA!”

Artemisia appeared behind Mitsuru, who pointed the hand holding the Evoker at the chain extending from Labrys’s arm. Mitsuru’s hand became wreathed in an icy aura, the air around it white like a breath visible in winter, and Artemisia laid her hands on the chain, which started to ice over. Mitsuru focused her hands on keeping Labrys’s arm pinned to the ground while she raised a foot to stomp on the frozen, brittle chain.

Labrys was unable to move in on Mitsuru’s Persona because she was busy defending a series of rapid punches from Akihiko with the flat of her axe. If she tried to move from the spot, it would create an opening for Akihiko to get a clean hit or two or seventeen on her. But compared to the threat of losing a hand, she began to think maybe playing the role of punching bag would be the lesser of two evils.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to make the choice. Mitsuru let out a grunt of pain, and Akihiko stopped his assault as he and Labrys looked towards the ice queen. Artemisia had let go of Labrys’s chain, a kunai sticking into her chest. As the Persona disappeared, Mitsuru had released her rapier, allowing Labrys to retract her arm, tearing the sword from the floor and sending it flying into the air as it left the home it had made for itself in one of her links.

Akihiko’s attention returned to his own place in the fight when a giant golden hand hovered in front of his face. There was a blast of green wind and he was sent flying high into the air, hitting the ground a few feet in front of Mitsuru.

“You ogay?” Yosuke was standing next to Labrys, his nose broken.

“Forget about me!” Labrys activated the rockets on her axe, the flames melting the ice off the chain her hand was attached to. “You’re the one who got clocked to next Sunday!”

“Whad, dis?” Yosuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his nose making a whistling sound as air entered it. Takehaya Susano-o held his hand over Yosuke, green light coming from it. The Dia spell fixed Yosuke’s nose, the cartilage all popping back into its proper place and mending itself. “I’m fine. Akihiko-San hits like a truck, but it’s not like I haven’t gotten worse from Junpei-Senpai.”

That was a half truth. While Junpei certainly had more raw physical strength than Akihiko, Junpei’s sloppy brawler punches Yosuke had taken during training couldn’t compare to Akihiko’s well-trained haymaker. Environments like the Dark Room and the Midnight Channel increased the physical capabilities of Persona users, and Akihiko’s overwhelming agility combined with his impressive strength was more than most of what Junpei had subjected Yosuke to. What Akihiko lacked in strength compared to Junpei, he more than made up for in speed and technique, leading to much more powerful blows.

“Anyway, I think those two are going for a divide and conquer thing. And if we get divided, they WILL conquer.” Yosuke held his hand out and a small Garu exploded under the kunai lying on the floor where Artemisia had previously stood, tossing the knife through the air back to its owner. Yosuke caught the knife and twirled it in his hand. “We need to move together if we want any chance of beating them.”

“Yeah.” Labrys returned her axe to her back as Akihiko got up, grinning at the two of them. If Yosuke’s attack had hurt him at all, the pain seemed to be negated by the adrenaline that was now pumping through his system. “Whaddya say we take this fight to our playin’ field?”

“Where’s that?” Yosuke asked.

Labrys grinned and hugged Yosuke’s waist, the rockets on her back activating. The pair flew up into the air, Takehaya Susano-o following behind them. They circled around above Mitsuru and Akihiko, and Takehaya Susano-o began raining down compressed blasts of air.

“Looks like they’re tryin’ to press an aerial advantage” Akihiko said, sidestepping the erratic air bullets.

“So it would seem.” Mitsuru dove to the ground and somersaulted, picking up her sword so she could slice apart the air bullets as they came. “It’s not a terrible strategy.”

“Yeah, but it’s not a great one either.”

“Indeed.” Mitsuru summoned Artemisia again, who immediately began forming several large boulders of ice. “They didn’t account for the weather.”

“Heads up, you two!” Akihiko drew his own Evoker and summoned Caesar. “Today’s forecast calls for a hundred percent chance of lightning storms and hail!”

Artemisia shot the boulders into the air, missing Yosuke and Labrys by a country mile. The real danger came when Caesar summoned a few bolts of lightning, not aiming for his airborne enemies, but the ice boulders. They shattered into dozens of pieces each, an explosion of hail filling the air. Yosuke and Labrys got pelted mercilessly, Labrys spinning out of control and diving towards the ground thanks to the frozen assault. A bunch of the hailstones hit Takehaya Susano-o as well, and it took all of Yosuke’s concentration to keep his Persona manifested long enough to create a cushion of air to lessen the impact of their crash.

After hitting the ground, Yosuke and Labrys rolled apart, both of them in pain. Labrys was about to say something, but Akihiko and Mitsuru were on them in a flash. Akihiko drove his fist down towards Yosuke’s face, but he rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet, stabbing at the taller man with one of his knives. Yosuke’s stab was parried by a swipe of Mitsuru’s rapier, which quickly changed its course and darted towards Yosuke’s shoulder. The blade was grabbed by a metallic hand, and an axe swung towards the fencer struggling to free her weapon. The axe was thrown off course by two gauntleted hands smashing into its side with a hammer blow, and then an elbow attached to one of the joined fists tried driving into the face of the axe’s wielder, though the attack was easily dodged by a backstep.

What ensued was a solid minute of constant parries, sword and fist bouncing off of knife and axe. Yosuke had no problem keeping up with this frantic pace, his dual-wielding style was well equipped to deal with Mitsuru’s flurry of sword strikes and Akihiko’s rapid-fire punches. But Labrys was a different story. A giant axe wasn’t terribly helpful in this kind of fight, and while Labrys’s metal body could withstand these attacks far better than Yosuke would have been able to, she was still taking damage. Labrys stuck her axe out behind her and activated the rockets, letting it pull her away from the fray. Now the sole target of Mitsuru and Akihiko’s combined assault, Yosuke was entirely on the defensive, unable to strike out with his knife, but getting nicked by the rapier or plowed into by a punch here or there.

Labrys had no intention of letting Yosuke get worn down by both of his opponents, summoning Ariadne. The silver Persona gracefully spun two massive weaves of thread, which bored into the ground. A moment later, they emerged in front of Mitsuru and Akihiko, taking the shape of swords. Mitsuru barely managed to block the attack with her own blade, but Akihiko got stabbed in the leg. Yosuke took the opportunity to get away from the two, but not before delivering a smaller cut to Akihiko’s arm in the process. Mitsuru healed Akihiko as Yosuke regrouped with Labrys.

“If nothing else, they’re good at covering each other’s backs” Akihiko said.

“Yes, they’re remarkably adept at pulling the other’s fat out of the fire.” Mitsuru chuckled. “I think I have a fix for that.”

“Please tell me you’re not gonna do what I think you are.”

“I am.” Mitsuru dispelled Artemisia.

“Isn’t that cheating? This is supposed to be a test of teamwork.”

“It’s a real threat they’ll face on the field. I’m curious to see how they’ll handle it.” Mitsuru summoned Artemisia again, but instead of appearing behind her, the Persona manifested behind Yosuke.

“What the hell!?” Yosuke turned around and looked up at the giantess looming over him. Artemisia shot a swirl of purple energy that consumed Yosuke.

No wait, that’s not right. Yosuke stepped out of the way. He turned to Labrys to see if she was ok, but Akihiko had somehow already encroached on him again, Caesar standing right behind him, charging up some big electrical attack. Yosuke -- determined not to get struck with lightning -- quickly summoned Takehaya Susano-o, and shot Akihiko into the sky with a giant Garudyne. Caesar disappeared, and Yosuke used his Persona to shoot himself up into the air, ready to stab into the boxer’s sides. Maybe it was a bit extreme, but Akihiko was the biggest threat on the battlefield, and if Yosuke could take him and his elemental advantage out of the game, then he and Labrys could double-team Mitsuru and actually pull out a victory.

Labrys had no goddamn idea why Yosuke had suddenly attacked her. At least not until he launched himself towards her in the air and saw the purple glow in his eyes. Labrys used her axe’s rocket to dodge his next attack and glared at Mitsuru.

“ARE YOU KIDDIN’ ME!? YOU USED MARIN KARIN!?”

“I don’t recall ever saying I wouldn’t” Mitsuru said haughtily.

“THAT’S CHEATIN’, MITSURU-SAN!” Labrys landed on the ground, keeping an eye on Yosuke as he used wind skills to change his trajectory and divebomb her.

“That’s what I said” Akihiko mumbled.

“This is part of the test” Mitsuru said. “Let’s see if Hanamura’s sense of loyalty can overcome brainwashing.”

Labrys wasn’t quick enough with her axe to block all of Yosuke’s slashes, so she summoned Ariadne and used her Weaver Arts to deflect his slashes. Every time one of the thread swords went to parody Yosuke’s knives, he pulled his hand back, trying to attack from another angle.

“Using lightning bolts to block my hits!?” Yosuke kept trying to stab at Labrys. “What’s that about!? Aren’t you supposed to be some kind martial arts master!? Isn’t that overkill!?”

“Damn it Yosuke-Kun, I’m not Akihiko!” Labrys dodged another swipe. “Snap outta it!”

“No, YOU’RE the chump!” Yosuke feinted with a knife and kicked Labrys in the shin, throwing her off balance.

“What does he think ‘I’m’ saying to him?” Akihiko pondered this as he watched the fight in front of him. The few times he’d been brainwashed, he saw all his friends as Shadows and vice-versa. He couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like to be tricked into thinking somebody you knew was insulting you. The only frame of reference he had for that kind of thing was the P-1 Grand Prix. Which, all things considered, made it kind of ironic that Labrys was the one whose real words were being obfuscated by this brainwashing.

While Labrys was falling, Yosuke stuck a knife into her arm. She looked up at him as she hit the ground, letting the knife stay where it was.

“I’m not gonna fight with ya, Yosuke-Kun.” Labrys’s eye wandered over to Mitsuru, who seemed very pleased with herself. “But I might just fight WITH ya.”

Yosuke summoned his Persona again, and Labrys took the opportunity to turn her axe into wings again. She grabbed Yosuke’s ankle with one hand and took off, jetting towards Mitsuru. Nobody else in the fight had any time to register what was happening before Labrys flailed Yosuke around like a pool noodle, using his body to bludgeon Mitsuru and send her flying into Akihiko.

“What in the…” Yosuke groaned, being held upside-down. He looked at Labrys. “Labrys? What just happened?”

“Yosuke-Kun!” Labrys grinned and gently lowered Yosuke to the ground, pulling his knife out of her arm and handing it back to him. “You’re back to normal!”

“Wow” Akihiko choked out, Mitsuru lying on top of his chest.

“That…” Mitsuru stared straight up at the ceiling lights, completely shellshocked. “Was a highly unconventional tactic.”

“It worked though.” Akihiko shifted to his side, forcing Mitsuru off of him. “Yosuke’s back to normal.”

“Yes, it seems a blow to the head can relieve a person of a mental affliction during combat.” Mitsuru sat up, summoning Artemisia to relieve their pain. “We’ll have to make a note of that for future reference.”

“Yeah. But for now…” Akihiko stood up as the Dia spell chased away his soreness, summoning his own Persona. Yosuke seemed preoccupied with healing a puncture in Labrys’s arm. Caesar let loose a lightning bolt, striking Takehaya Susano-o as it finished healing Labrys. Yosuke was in so much pain he couldn’t even scream, simply crumpling as he felt the full brunt of the electric blast.

“YOSUKE-KUN!” Labrys caught Yosuke as he fell. “ARE YA OK!? CAN YA HEAR ME!?”

“That was somewhat underhanded” Mitsuru said. “I thought you cared about a fair fight.”

“‘Fair fight’ went out the window the second we started playing human billiards” Akihiko said. He started walking towards his foes, Caesar following behind him. “Let’s go.”

Labrys heard the crackling just as another bolt of lightning formed above their heads, and moved to shield Yosuke from the blast. The electric attack scrambled all of her sensors for a moment, and everything was chaos as her ears tried to process vision and her eyes sound. When she came to, she and Yosuke were being rammed by a giant ice boulder. The boulder dragged them along the floor, almost crushing them beneath its weight as it slowly rolled over them before finally moving on. Yosuke and Labrys rose, readying a counter-attack.

What followed was complete pandemonium. Threads, wind, ice, and lightning were flying all over the place. One moment Mitsuru was caught in a web of threads, suspended above the ground. The next, Labrys was encased in a block of ice. Then the frozen Labrys was spun in a tornado, slamming into Akihiko to crack the ice open. Then Yosuke would be in a sideways T-pose, one knife in the floor and the other pointing above him, trying to let the current of a Ziodyne bolt run through his body and safely ground itself. Yosuke and Labrys even combined their powers at one point, creating a tornado full of thread swords. But through all the cuts, shocks, blasts, and freezes, Mitsuru and Akihiko seemed to be coming out on top. They took plenty of hits, but Mitsuru’s healing magic was far more potent than Yosuke’s, and the examinee and his chosen partner seemed to be running low on stamina. And the senior fighters had another hidden advantage. Used in great quantity as it was, Mitsuru’s ice had an extra tactical use. Whether they struck or not, the ice boulders she conjured up stuck around, slowly melting over the course of battle, especially when Akihiko’s lightning heated up the air or Yosuke’s wind blew it around. Eventually, a large section of the floor was wet. A large section Yosuke and Labrys happened to be standing on.

Akihiko didn’t need to aim with his lightning. It ran all along the wet floor, shocking both Yosuke and Labrys at once. Yosuke was stunned, and Labrys was on her last legs, struggling just to stay on her feet. She could barely move as Akihiko and Mitsuru closed in for a finishing blow, but she was just quick enough to summon Ariadne one last time. Labrys’s Persona weaved its threads at a surreal pace, fingers seemingly blending into each other as more and more red string came from its hands. It formed the shape of a giant bull, which charged down Akihiko and Mitsuru, knocking them away. And while it successfully repelled her assailants, it also left Labrys completely exhausted, collapsing to the ground.

“How you feeling?” Yosuke started to stir.

“Not great.” Labrys tried to move her body, but everything was slow and sluggish, and she was making a lot of clicking noises she was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to make. “I don’t even gotta run a system diagnostic to tell ya that I’m functionin’ badly right now.”

“Alright, well…” Yosuke slowly rose to his feet. “I have one last trick up my sleeve. And it’ll give us a fighting chance, but we gotta go at it with everything we’ve got. You ready?”

“Yeah.” Labrys looked up. Akihiko and Mitsuru were on their feet again and charging at them. “Make it fast.”

“No problem.” Yosuke summoned his Persona and conjured up the Youthful Wind. It surrounded him and Labrys, rejuvenating their energy and putting a spring in their step and then some. The two rushed Akihiko and Mitsuru, moving faster than they had previously been capable of, easily dodging their blows and raining attacks on them. Yosuke focused on Akihiko, taking care not to hurt him too badly, raining down a ton of shallow cuts on his body, narrowly avoiding his vitals. Labrys wasn’t exactly one for a gentle touch, so she dropped her axe and used her superior robotic strength to bat Mitsuru around like a cat with a toy, not letting the boss reorient herself, keeping her rattled and accumulating bruises all over.

As Yosuke and Labrys’s boost of speed started to wear off, Mitsuru escaped Labrys and summoned Artemisia, trying to launch off another Bufu spell. Yosuke had just enough energy left in him to summon a single Garu, spinning Artemisia around right before she shot out the ice, making her accidentally blast Akihiko. With one of their opponents stunned, Labrys picked up her axe and swung the flat end into Mitsuru’s head, rattling her brain cage and taking her out of commission for a moment.

“LET’S GO, PARTNER!” Yosuke shouted. He and Labrys initiated what could only be called a rollercoaster ride of violence, Labrys’s rocket axe flying off and taking Akihiko and Mitsuru with it, repeatedly passing by Yosuke who slashed the two, making precision cuts to the last undamaged parts of their bodies. This culminated in the axe crashing to the ground, slamming the two older Persona users and all of their fresh wounds on the hard floor.

It still wasn’t enough. Yosuke and Labrys were dead tired, and Akihiko and Mitsuru started to get up again.

“Ya gotta be kiddin’ me!” Labrys dropped her axe in despair. “I knew they were tough, but this is just ridiculous!”

“I can’t believe that didn’t work! We went all out! Back in the old days, whenever my friends and I did that, it almost always-“ Yosuke’s eyes widened and he held his hand out to Labrys. “I have an idea! Take my hand!”

“Ok…” Labrys grabbed Yosuke’s hand. “Now what?”

“Summon your Persona! Now!”

“Right!”

Ariadne and Takehaya Susano-o both manifested, holding hands just like the ones who summoned them. A dozen giant kunai materialized around Mitsuru and Akihiko, shooting forward from all sides but never actually hitting them. Strings trailed behind them, creating a web tangling up their targets, and then the kunai kept flying onward, pulling the strings together, constricting their opponents and pulling them tighter together. Then, when the kunai finished flying, they burst into a bit of fire, which ran along each string like the fuse of a bomb. When all the flames met in the middle where Mitsuru and Akihiko were tied up, there was a large explosion.

Yosuke and Labrys’s Personas disappeared and the two fell to the ground, totally unable to move. The only part of their bodies that seemed to be working were their heads. Labrys looked at Yosuke.

“What was THAT!?”

“I’m thinking of calling it the ‘Shinobi Weave’” Yosuke said, panting heavily.

“Huh…” Labrys’s eyes trailed off. “How about, ‘Cyborg Arts’?”

“Whatever you want to call it, it’s certainly impressive.”

Labrys and Yosuke looked up to see Mitsuru standing over them, sticking her sword into the ground for support.

“You’re STILL up!?” Yosuke whined. “Motherfu-“

“Language. This is still a professional environment.” Mitsuru took a deep breath and stood tall, letting go of her sword. When she felt stable, she bent over and grabbed Yosuke’s arm. “Congratulations.” Mitsuru stood up, pulling Yosuke to his feet, although it was an arduous prospect for both of them. “You’ve passed the final exam. You are now cleared to join the Shadow Operatives.”

“Are you for real right now!?” Hearing Mitsuru’s words gave Yosuke just enough energy to not immediately collapse again. “You mean it!?”

“Of course.” Mitsuru smiled and let go of Yosuke’s arm. “If you still want to. I hope being defeated in battle by your potential employer hasn’t discouraged you from joining at the last minute?”

“What are you talking about? We won that fight!”

“I was still able to get up and bring my sword over to where you were lying motionless. I could have easily slit your throat.”

“That’s not- Uh…” Yosuke scratched his head. He couldn’t refute that. Mitsuru was the last woman standing. She had won.

“So…” Mitsuru held out her hand. “What do you say?”

“I’m in.” Yosuke grabbed Mitsuru’s hand and shook it with the tiny amount of energy he had left in his arm.

“Excellent. Yosuke Hanamura, welcome to the Security Department, Shadow Response Unit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote all of this in a single night, a VAST contrast to the previous chapter. This is probably my favorite fight scene I've done yet.
> 
> I did have one more scene at the end of this but decided I didn't like how hasty I was being with it, so there's gonna be one more chapter to give this thing a proper epilogue.


	10. Job Benefits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yosuke finds there are perks to being a Shadow Operative.

Yosuke signed the final bit of paperwork. Mitsuru took it from him, looked it over, and nodded.

“And with that, you are officially Shadow Operative Number 11.”

“11?” Yosuke started counting operatives on his fingers. Mitsuru was number one, Akihiko was two, Yukari was three, Junpei was four, Aigis was five, Koromaru was six, Ken was seven, Kikuno was eight, and Labrys was nine. “Aren’t I Agent 10?”

“No.” Mitsuru shook her head. “That number belonged to Sho Minazuki.”

“Is this some kind of joke?” Yosuke looked into Mitsuru’s eyes for any trace of mirth, but found none. “He’s a traitor at the top of your most wanted list!”

“It was decided early on that the Shadow Operatives don’t reuse numbers” Mitsuru said. “There are varying reasons for this. With retired members like Akihiko, it’s in case they ever come back into the fold. If an agent dies, it would be to honor their memory.”

“And if they turn traitor?”

“It's so we do not forget our mistakes.” Mitsuru gave Yosuke a sullen look. “Besides, would you really want to operate under the pretense that you were replacing somebody no longer with us, instead of being your own agent?”

“I guess not.” Yosuke sighed and scratched his head. “But eleven’s a really awkward number.”

“Yes, well, as far as your life goes, it’s rather fitting, non?” Mitsuru’s spirits seemed to lift and she even let out a slight chuckle.

“Mitsuru-San…” Yosuke gawked at his new boss. “Are you making fun of me!?”

“I suppose I am.” Mitsuru took a deep breath and sat up straight, composing herself. “You’ll have to forgive me, Hanamura. I’m not quite myself right now. To tell you the truth, finally recruiting our first new agent in years has me somewhat giddy.”

“Yeah, I could tell.” Yosuke couldn’t really tell. Even at the height of joy, Mitsuru still looked like she belonged in a classical painting.

“Well, I think that’s enough tomfoolery. Onto the next order of business.” Mitsuru shuffled all the papers Yosuke had signed into a file and handed it to Kikuno, who silently accepted it. “We’ll need to discuss your living arrangements.”

“Oh yeah.” Yosuke looked at Mitsuru with worry. “I’m not staying in that dorm room, am I?”

“Cadet living quarters are small and plain to facilitate a proper environment for orientation and due to how short their period of use is.” Mitsuru pulled out her tablet and started poking around the screen. “We do have living quarters for full-fledged agents here, and I’m certain you’ll find them considerably more comfortable.”

Mitsuru turned the tablet around and handed it to Yosuke. On screen was a photo of a room much larger than the one he’d been living in for the past month. For one thing, the walls were painted something other than white, in this case a nice, calming, mellow blue. Instead of a tiny twin bed, there was a king-sized bed with some plush-looking bedding, a dresser with a TV on it, a nicer desk than the one Yosuke’d been using, and a carpeted floor instead of hardwood. He swiped through a few more photos showing the room from different angles, as well as photos of a much larger bathroom with a real bathtub in it.

“It’s nicer than where I’ve been staying, that’s for sure.”

“I’m glad it meets your approval” Mitsuru said. “If you’d like, we could have the walls painted another color for you, although you’d have to stay in the cadet living quarters until the painting is done.”

“There isn’t any chance you could put in a window while you’re at it, could you?”

“I’m afraid not.” Mitsuru took the tablet back. “The room is still underground, after all. If you’re looking for a room with a view, we’d have to place you in an apartment outside of the compound.”

“You can do that?”

“Of course. Some of us prefer to have a private space completely separated from our work. If you so desire, I could arrange for you to be living in a one-bedroom apartment in the nearby area within a day or two.”

“Alright, cool.” Yosuke nodded. “And… where IS the nearby area, exactly?”

“Of course, how could I forget?” Mitsuru looked at Yosuke apologetically. “You haven’t been outside in a month. Perhaps you should take the day to explore the area before making your decision.”

* * *

“I mean, I don’t know how I’m gonna get used to it. It’s not that I don’t wanna live in a city, but it’s a pretty big change.”

Yosuke was finally given back his clothes and cell phone. He met up with Labrys, who had been switched into her stealth parts while her combat gear was repaired. Seeing how he was about to enter a massive city he’d never been in before and also it was his first time seeing the sun in a month, it was decided that Yosuke needed a chaperone while he adjusted to the new environment. Currently, Yosuke was sitting on a park bench talking to Yu on his phone while Labrys had run off to buy some takoyaki.

“You’re really moving to Tokyo?” Yu asked.

“Looks like it.” Yosuke leaned back in the bench and stretched out his legs. “Mitsuru-San says that I might be relocated closer to Inaba someday, but for now they want me in Tokyo. Apparently they want me investigating that mental shutdown stuff from the past year. I’m gonna go undercover in Shujin Academy!”

“The high school from the news? Aren’t you a little old to be a high school student?”

“As one of the faculty, dude!”

“So what, you’re gonna be the janitor or something?” Yu’s laughter came through the phone. “The glorious life of government work, huh?”

“I don’t really know yet. But wouldn’t it be rad if I wound up catching a Phantom Thief!?”

“Naoto would be jealous” Yu said. “She was very interested in those articles while they were happening. If you get a good lead but need help locking it down, let us know. I’m sure she’d drop everything to work that case.”

“Well, I’d have to run it by Mitsuru-San, but I’m sure she wouldn’t say no.”

“Sounds good, I-“ Yu paused. “Oh shit. Sorry man. It’s great talking to you again, but I’m getting a call from a client. It’s pretty urgent.”

“Hey, now that I’m not in isolation anymore, we can talk whenever. Do your thing, detective.”

“Later, agent.”

As Yosuke hung up, Labrys returned with a pack of a half-dozen freshly-cooked takoyaki.

“So, how’s Yu-Kun?” Labrys handed the takoyaki to Yosuke and sat down on the bench next to him.

“Busy.” Yosuke picked up one of the takoyaki and started blowing on it. It was still steaming. “The Shirogane/Narukami Detective Agency is not hurting for cases.”

“Good for him!” Labrys looked up at the sky wistfully. “It’s real great that those two are makin’ a whole life together work.” Labrys looked back down at Yosuke. “Everybody should have someone they can share their life with like that, don’t ya think?”

“Uh… yeah.” Yosuke’s eyes lingered on Labrys’s for a second, and he started to feel awkward. He quickly directed them to the takoyaki instead. It still looked a little too hot. “But, y’know, it’s not easy for everyone to find someone like that, right?”

“Yeah, but I think when two people can do great things together, they’ll just know it. Like that big combo attack thingy we did during that fight!” Labrys scooted a little closer to Yosuke. “What was that!? There ain’t no Persona skill like it in any of our files!”

“Oh, that?” Yosuke held out the takoyaki ball to Labrys, but she shook her head. “I can’t really explain how it works or what it is. It’s just something a few of us in the Investigation Team were able to do sometimes.”

“So ya all had combos like that?”

“Nah. Just a few pairs. Chie and Yukiko, Kanji and Naoto, and me and…” Yosuke sighed. “Teddie.”

“Teddie, huh?” Labrys giggled at Yosuke’s beleaguered expression. “Why him?”

“I mean, we worked together and lived together. I guess in a weird way, I was closer to him than most of the other members of the team, as annoying as that is.”

“So it depends on how close ya are?”

“I think so.” Yosuke chuckled. “Mitsuru-San wants me to see if I can teach everyone else how to do it. Apparently Ken and Koromaru have some kind of combo attack of their own, but it’s not exactly the same thing.”

“Yeah, that’s just them usin’ their Personas at the same time. But they ain’t comin’ together like ours were.”

“Sounds about right.”

“So… Uh…” Labrys inched a little closer to Yosuke. “What does it mean that the two of us were able to do it?”

“I mean, uh…” Yosuke started to sweat a little. “I guess it just means we’re close, you know? I mean, I spent pretty much every moment I wasn’t working my ass off in the last month with you. Most of the happy moments I had were the ones you were there for. And sometimes Koromaru, but it’s mostly like-“ Yosuke’s face twisted up in frustration. “I mean, that’s why I picked you to be my partner for that exam, you know?”

“Yeah, I think I do.” Labrys paused, thinking about what she wanted to say next, but her train of thought was interrupted by a squeal from Yosuke.

“Oh man…” Yosuke had popped a takoyaki ball into his mouth. “It’sh sho good to eat somefin’ dat ishn’t mandatory trainin’ food!”

“I bet.”

“You sure you don’t want one?” Yosuke finally swallowed the ball. “That head you’ve got right now can taste stuff, right?”

“I ain’t gonna steal the first treat you’ve had in a month, Yosuke-Kun!”

“It’s not stealing if I’m offering, y’know.”

“I know, but I just wanna let ya enjoy it.” Labrys started to feel anxious. She had spent a lot of time with Yosuke over the past month, and it was really some of the most fun she’d ever had. Even when he was whining and exhausted from training, there was still just something enjoyable about his company. And she’d had the excuse of not distracting him from his orientation to not have to address that fact. But now, that barrier was gone. The Shadow Operatives had no rules against internal fraternization. She was free to act on her feelings. But actually doing that was kind of daunting.

Still, it was a lot easier to get what you wanted if you actually did something instead of sitting around waiting for it.

“Y’know, Yosuke-Kun, I’m really glad you’re one of us now.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“And if I’m bein’ honest, it made me really happy when ya picked me to be your partner for that exercise.” Labrys twiddled her thumbs. “Ya even called me ‘partner’ near the end of the fight. I thought ya only called Yu-Kun that.”

“I did?” Yosuke thought back to the final exam. “Huh, yeah. I mean, I wasn’t really thinking about it or anything. It just… felt right, I guess.”

“Well, so long as we’re doin’ what feels right…” Labrys grabbed Yosuke’s chin and turned his head towards her, leaning forward and planting a kiss on his lips. Yosuke went completely stiff, seemingly unable to process what was happening, but Labrys didn’t mind. She broke the kiss after a few seconds.

“I… Uh…” Yosuke’s face was completely flushed. “That was…”

“Hm…” Labrys licked her lips, leaning back on the bench, proud of herself. “Maybe it's just the takoyaki, but ya taste pretty good, Yosuke-Kun.”

“I-I… I…”

“Uh-oh. Ya don’t look so hot.” Labrys stood up and put her hand on Yosuke’s forehead. “Are ya feelin’ ok?”

“Just fine thank you” Yosuke squeaked.

“Well, if ya say so.” Labrys sat back down and leaned against Yosuke’s shoulder. “I feel like there’s a lotta good things comin’ our way. Doncha think, Yosuke-Kun?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd DONE.
> 
> Will I ever tell that story I tease here? Maybe, maybe not.
> 
> Next up is a P5 story. Gonna see if I can get it done by Valentine's Day.


End file.
